Page 43 - Engineering in Nature

Harun Yahya

Diatoms produce their shells by converting the
silicon dissolved in water into silica, which resem-
bles the precious stone opal. The glass-like shells
that emerge as a result of this transformation dis-

play unimaginable variety and perfect architec-
ture. The pores that let nutriments to enter and
gasses to be exchanged make this structure even
more fragile. Now, imagine an architect with very
superior design abilities, but with either insuffi-
cient knowledge of materials, or else a lack of the
necessary materials to create an architectural de-
sign. Clearly, design ability on its own can serve no
purpose. Yet diatoms behave like architects with
an incomparable design ability and also carry out,
within their tiny bodies, a number of chemical ad-
justments to produce perfect structures.
Diatoms are microscopically small, the size of a pinhead and have
no brain or nervous system. They produce beautiful shells, as if they
had been trained in chemistry or architecture, which cannot be the
work of chance. Moreover, all diatoms use the same materials to pro-
duce shells of completely different appearance, but all equally per-
fect. Their perfect architecture and infinite variety are of course

manifestations of God's incomparable creative artistry.

• Delicate Planning
The most impressive moments that scientists studying diatoms
can witness are those involving reproduction. First, the diatom's
medicine phial-like shell divides in two. The diatom's nucleus then

Adnan Oktar
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