The eye can’t detect that many colors nor the ear that many sounds.
If researchers at Rockefeller University in New York are correct, the human nose is capable of detecting at least one trillion different odors. That is far more than the prevailing belief that we can distinguish among only 10,000 different odors, an idea based more on “urban legend” than research, according to study co-author Dr. Leslie Vosshall.
"It's the first real test of how good humans are," Vosshall said. "People assume animals are much better smellers than us. Humans are remarkably good at smelling things." However, she admitted animals are two or three times better at smelling than we are because they devote more of their brain to the sense of smell.
The scientists set up experiments involving cocktails of 128 different odor molecules representing a wide range of smells from grass to citrus. The molecules were mixed in groups of 10, 20 or 30 to create unfamiliar smells. Twenty-six people then were asked to identify the scents. Based on their results, the researchers estimated the average person can discriminate among at least one trillion different odors and perhaps more. If true, that makes the nose more gifted than the eye, which can see up to 10 million different colors, or the ear, which can distinguish among a half million sounds.
One expert who appeared to downplay the results of the experiment was Prof. Charles Spence of the U. of Oxford. "I guess no matter how many smells we can discriminate, the evidence still shows that even the best experts cannot really pull much more than three odorants out of a mixture, contrary to what all those wordy wine writers might have us believe," he said. But Prof. Stephen Liberles at Harvard Medical School points to the large number of olfactory receptors in the nose and thinks the latest estimate may actually be understating the case.
“Irreducible complexity” is a phrase commonly used by many scientists who are challenging the established theories of Darwinian or neo-Darwinian evolution. The term seems to have been invented or at least popularized by a professor of biochemistry, Dr. Michael Behe. In his book, Darwin’s Black Box, Behe says if a structure is so complex that all of its parts must initially be present in a suitably functioning manner, then it might be said to be irreducibly complex. If something is so complex, the odds it could originate through the random unguided processes of evolution would seem to be ridiculously miniscule.
Think about the parts of the human nose. Tubes and plates called conchae inside our nose are specifically designed to regulate airflow and reduce turbulence. Expandable soft tissue can open or contract the nasal passages as needed and is covered by a special skin designed to capture debris using hairlike projections and a layer of mucus. This helps protect sensitive lung tissue. Our noses not only can regulate airflow direction but also can humidify and heat the air. Also, the nose cooperates with the lymphatic system to provide immune functions. Now, add to all this complexity the idea that the nose can differentiate among perhaps a trillion or more different odors. Yet, secularists insist the nose, whether in us or in other mammals, evolved without any guidance at all.
Instead, we know all our body parts were designed by God and designed to work together. The Bible says, “And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be” (1 Corinthians 12:16-18).
Our noses sometimes fail to do as effective a job as they were created to do, especially as we get older. The same can be said for our eyes and ears and other organs. The deteriorating abilities of our organs is, of course, due to sin having had such a harmful effect on God‘s creation (Romans 8:22). Our doctors can do only so much to help us with our failing vision, hearing, and/or smelling abilities. But the good news is that we Christians can foresee a future where all our senses and other bodily functions will be in restored to perfect condition. “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:20-21). The heavenly citizenship is available to anyone who repents of his sins and believes in Jesus Christ as his Savior from sin. For this blessed arrangement, we praise the Lord.
References: Helen Briggs, “Nose can detect one trillion odours.” BBC News
Brian Thomas, “The Amazing Design of the Human Nose,” Institute for Creation Research
PRINT (Black type on white background)
**************************************
Want to be automatically notified each time there is a new post? Just e-mail your request to admin@lutheranscience.org].
****************************************
QUESTION OF THE DAY
How many parents do not make their children wear seat belts in the car?
Some 20% of parents do not make their children wear seat belts when going only a short distance. But 60% of crashes involving children occur within 10 minutes of home.
Source: USA Today, reported in Bottom Line Personal (March 15, 2014)
****************************************
NOTE ON VISITOR COMMENTS: Visitor comments are invited including those containing alternate views. However, comments containing profanity, personal attacks or advertisements will not be published. After posting a comment, please allow several hours for it to appear on the blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment