Beautiful plant spirals flummox secular science

A Swiss botanist recently conducted an intensive study of why so many plants sport flowers or leaves with beautiful spiral patterns that conform to the golden ratio, also known as the divine ratio.

The golden ratio, approximately 1.618, has fascinated scientists, mathematicians, architectural designers, and artists for centuries because it appears abundantly in nature. The ratio occurs when the sum of two numbers divided by the larger number produces the same answer as the larger number divided by the smaller number.

A multitude of psychological studies show people seem pre-programmed to find the ratio aesthetically appealing. It appears throughout creation in things such as plants, seashells, spiral galaxies, hurricanes, human faces, fingerprints, animal bodies, bird flight patterns, and DNA molecules. But science cannot explain its purpose or allure.

Botanist Cris Kuhlemeier investigated tissue mechanics, the roles of plant hormones and proteins, cellular communication, and adaptive functioning in attempt to understand what generates the spiral patterns that align precisely in the golden ratio. He concluded that the mysterious spiral patterns must relate to “reproductive strategies.” But Discovery Institute experts point out, “Flowers don’t have ‘reproductive strategies,’ because they have no brains.”

At the end of the analysis, Kuhlemeier said his investigation suggested that spiral patterning works through a positive feedback loop between auxin, a plant hormone, and the mechanism that transports it from cell to cell. But “none of that explains the origin of the feedback loops, the origin of auxin, the origin of the transporter, the origin of the genes that build these machines, or why any of those factors should follow the golden ratio,” according to the Discovery Institute’s blog, Evolution News & Science Today.

Perhaps a better starting point for understanding the purpose of the divine ratio is to acknowledge the divine God who designed it.

The Colorado River iStock.com/m-kojot

Colorado River ‘sues’ for personhood

In the past year, New Zealand granted legal personhood to the Whanganui River, and an Indian court attempted to declare, but was overruled by India’s Supreme Court, that the rivers Ganga and Yamuna and two glaciers in the Himalayas were legally protected persons. Now an environmental group in the United States is suing on behalf of the Colorado River for personhood, The New York Times reported.

Deep Green Resistance (DGR) hopes to “create a life-centered resistance movement that will dismantle industrial civilization by any means necessary,” according to the group’s website. DGR claims Colorado violated the river’s right to flourish by polluting and draining it and threatening endangered species. If successful, the lawsuit could set a precedent by which natural features such as redwood forests or the Rocky Mountains could gain legal standing in cases against individuals, corporations, and governments over pollution and depleting resources.

Wesley J. Smith of the Discovery Institute said the somewhat favorable review The New York Times gave the idea showed the subversive nature-rights movement is no longer on the fringe. Smith sees the campaign as a threat to human thriving and a war on human exceptionalism. “If forests and swamps, insects and granite outcroppings—all aspects of nature—have rights, if rights cease to be restricted to the human realm, then all we are is another animal in the forest,” he wrote on the organization’s blog.

Many environmental experts believe DGR has little chance of winning the suit, and conservative lawmakers note the case could actually harm responsible conservation. “Radical obstructionists who contort common sense with this sort of nonsense undercut credible conservationists,” Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., told The New York Times. —J.B.

The Colorado River iStock.com/m-kojot

New help for hungry dieters?

Scientists just identified key brain cells that control appetite, a discovery that could offer help to those trying to lose weight.

Researchers at the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, found that taste buds detect the flavor of amino acids, especially arginine and lysine, in the foods we eat and then transmit that information to tanycytes, brain cells that control appetite and makes us feel full quicker.

Foods such as pork shoulder, beef sirloin steak, chicken, mackerel, plums, apricots, avocadoes, lentils, and almonds contain high concentrations of arginine and lysine. When the researchers added arginine and lysine to tancytes, the brain cells reacted to the amino acids within 30 seconds and released information to the part of the brain that controls appetite and body weight.

“Finding that tanycytes, located at the center of the brain region that controls body weight, directly sense amino acids has very significant implications for coming up with new ways to help people to control their body weight within healthy bounds,” Nicholas Dale, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Warwick, said in a statement. —J.B.

Retirees less healthy now than before

New research shows that while people are waiting longer to retire, they experience health-related limitations at younger ages than previous generations did. “We found that younger cohorts are facing more burdensome health issues, even as they have to wait until an older age to retire, so they will have to do so in poorer health,” Robert Schoeni, a University of Michigan economist and co-author of the study, said in a statement. The researchers found a significant correlation between the age at which health limitations set in and educational level, with those who did not complete high school experiencing a much higher percentage of limitations than those with a college education. —J.B.

Smart labels detect food spoilage

Food expiration labels that read “best by” often confuse consumers. Does “best” mean throw out after this date? Or does it mean it’s safe to eat two or three days past the date? Thanks to the innovation of researchers at Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y., such labels may soon become obsolete. The researchers developed a low cost smart label that can detect color or electrical changes in food that signal when the quality of the food is deteriorating. —J.B.