Biologically inspired designs: Testament to evolution?
by Judah Etinger
12 September 2006
Creationists have repeatedly pointed to examples of superior designs in biology.
These have served to inspire some of mankind’s most remarkable engineering
feats, such as the airplane
and the camera.
The airplane is one of mankind’s most remarkable engineering feats.
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Biologically Inspired Design is the name given to this increasingly recognized and
popular scientific field. Within the last year, two research centres have opened
up, one at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, the CBID (Center for Biologically Inspired Design),
and another at the University of California, Berkeley.
Recently, a conference was held in Atlanta where researchers gathered from around
the world to showcase a range of biologically inspired projects, including investigations
into rat whiskers, fish jaws and worm brains. Engineers are studying such things
as gecko feet for
glue, and the incredible strength and elasticity of
spider silk to produce material for stitching nerves and tendons.
‘It really captures the imagination to show how much better organisms are
at doing things,’ said Marc Weissburg, a biology professor and co-director
of Georgia Tech’s CBID. ‘The natural world doesn’t waste energy,
accumulate a large amount of toxins or produce more materials than it uses.’1
‘Every organism is designed to solve a problem,’ Weissburg said.1
In a weblog, he pointed out that ‘organisms are amazing systems that solve
certain problems brilliantly.’2
But who gets the credit for all of this creative biological efficiency and ingenuity?
Why, evolution of course!
One of Canada’s top national newspapers reported that scientists in the field
of biologically inspired design ‘can learn much from the world’s most
rigorous process: Evolution.’1
Weissburg and other evolutionary scientists believe that random chance processes
have the capability of actually ‘designing’ such systems. However, informed
readers know that creationist scientists have, for years, shown that evolutionary
processes such as natural
selection and mutations
are entirely inadequate to explain the origin of living things.
In fact, hundreds (and probably thousands) of scientists around the world are skeptical
of neo-Darwinian evolution in general,3
and hundreds more believe
specifically in biblical creation.
Dr Jane Orient, executive director and past president of the Association of American
Physicians and Surgeons, noted, ‘Evolution, meaning the origin of all species
from a common ancestor, is a wild and fanciful speculation and should not be taught
as science, much less as fact.’4
Indeed, it is much more logical and consistent to conclude that the amazing designs
found in nature, which human designers only try to mimic, were themselves
designed by a Master Designer.
And even with all of our collaborative human effort, we are still struggling to
match most of nature’s
superior design systems.
What a testament to the Creator who designed them all in the first place!
References
- Scientists take cues from nature, The Globe And Mail, June 16,
2006, This article was adapted from the Associated Press, and so similar claims
were made around the world. Return to Text
- Marc Weissburg, from his weblog posting. Return to Text
- More scientists express doubts on Darwin, WorldNetDaily, June
22, 2006. Return to Text
- Nearly two-thirds of doctors skeptical of Darwin’s theory
of evolution, Discovery Institute, May 31, 2005, Actually, the title of this
article would be more accurate if it were, ‘Nearly two-thirds of doctors believe
that God was involved with the origin of life’, because some of the respondents
in the survey believed in God-guided evolution. Return to Text
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