Page 11 - Apologetics Student Textbook
P. 11

of the earth. Yet your brain with its hundred thousand billion electrical connections fits in a quart jar
               and operates for 70 years on ten watts of power, fueled largely by cheeseburgers and French fries.

               Every cubic inch [2.54 centimeters] of the human brain contains at least 100 million nerve cells
               interconnected by 10 thousand miles of fibers.

               Isaac Asimov said that man's 3-4-pound brain is the most complex and orderly arrangement of matter
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               in the entire universe!  Far more complicated than any computer, the human brain can store and
               creatively manipulate seemingly infinite amounts of information.  Its capabilities and potential stagger
               the imagination.  The more we use it, the better it becomes.

               The brain capabilities of even the smallest insects are mind-boggling.  The tiny speck of a brain found in
               a little ant, butterfly or bee enable them not only to see, smell, taste and move, but even to fly with
               great precision.  Butterflies routinely navigate enormous distances.  Bees and ants carry on complex
               social organizations, building projects, and communications.  These miniature brains put our computers
               and avionics to shame, in comparison.

                                           The eye...can distinguish among seven million colors. It has automatic
                                           focusing and handles an astounding 1.5 million messages --
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                                           simultaneously.  Evolution focuses on mutations and changes from and
                                           within existing organisms. Yet evolution alone cannot explain the initial
                                           source of the eye or the brain.


               Just so you can understand the complexity of the human eye, here
               is a brief overview of the biochemistry of vision. When light first
               strikes the retina, a photon interacts with a molecule called 11-cis-
               retinal, which rearranges within picoseconds to trans-retinal. The
               change in the shape of retinal forces a change in the shape of the
               protein, rhodopsin, to which the retinal is tightly bound. The
               protein's metamorphosis alters its behavior, making it stick to
               another protein called transducin. Before bumping into activated
               rhodopsin, transducin had tightly bound a small molecule called
                                         GDP. But when transducin interacts
                                         with activated rhodopsin, the GDP falls
                                         off and a molecule called GTP binds to
                                         transducin. (GTP is closely related to, but critically different from, GDP.)

                                         GTP-transducin-activated rhodopsin now binds to a protein called
                                         phosphodiesterase, located in the inner membrane of the cell. When
                                         attached to activated rhodopsin and its entourage, the phosphodiesterase
                                         acquires the ability to chemically cut a molecule called cGMP (a chemical
                                         relative of both GDP and GTP). Initially there are a lot of cGMP molecules in


               5  https://quotefancy.com/quote/832639/Isaac-Asimov-And-in-man-is-a-three-pound-brain-which-as-far-as-we-
               know-is-the-most#:~:text=12%20wallpapers)%20%2D%20Quotefancy-
               ,%E2%80%9CAnd%20in%20man%20is%20a%20three%2Dpound%20brain%20which%2C,of%20matter%20in%20th
               e%20universe.%E2%80%9D
               6  https://hypertextbook.com/facts/2006/JenniferLeong.shtml

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