Page 113 - The Origin of Birds and Flight
P. 113
Ph.D. was in
an aerodynam-
ics department. Bird flight in
particular is remarkable. Consider feathers. If you
look at a feather under a microscope, you see the main stem, with
barbs coming out to the left and right, and from these you have left-and
right-handed barbules. Now, the interesting bit is that the left-handed ones
have hooks, and the right-handed ones have ridges.
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C Chris Field: That’s so the feathers lock together.
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it, everything bends with it, and yet it’s a very light structure. So the hooks
catch the ridges and they slide over the ridges—it’s a mechanical engi-
neer’s dream to have such useful, lightweight engineering. But if you have
a sliding joint, you need lubrication. To do this the bird twists its neck
around 180° and dips its beak into a tiny oil gland right down at the back
of its spine. It then preens itself, wiping this oil all over its feathers, so that
they join together nicely, and these sliding joints are oiled. That’s a marvel-
lous bit of engineering. So is the fact that birds, unlike us, have hollow
bones. To be strong enough, particularly in the bigger birds, these light-
weight bones often have cross-members. In aircraft we call the design
‘Warren’s truss,’ but we copied it from birds in the first place. . . Design is
shouting at me everywhere. 1
As you have seen, those whose mental horizons are not restricted by belief
in evolution can easily discern the signs of superior creation in living things.
They see the illogicality of seeking to account for these in terms of chance, and
can appreciate Allah’s creation in living things.
People with such awareness are described in these terms in the Qur’an:
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1. “Flying high,”, an interview
with Dr Andy McIntosh by
Chris Field
