Page 26 - Amazing Creations Volume Four

Amazing Creations 99

Richard Gunther

Woodpeckers drill holes in trees by hammering at them with
their sharp, hard beaks.
If any bird other than a woodpecker hit a tree this hard, and this
fast, it would knock itself unconscious in seconds - yet the
woodpeckers keeps going without any brain damage!
First the stats:
The head goes forward at 1200g (1200 times the force of gravity).
It does this 18-20 times PER SECOND.
Only 300g is enough to cause
a human to blackout or suffer
brain damage.

A team of engineers investigated
the woodpecker's amazing
shock-absorbing abilities.
They found that:
1. The beak is made of elastic material
2. The neck and tongue are supported
by muscles,
3. There is spongy bone behind the beak,
4. The skull bone has spinal fluid in it.

All these features are lined up so the
shock is carried away by each -
without these four features the woodpecker
couldn't peck.

Engineers copied the woodpecker design.
They tested their system at 60009.
The result: the failure rate in micro-devices went
from 26.4% down to 0.7%.

People are quick to praise the wonderful design
which humans come up with, but very slow to praise
the mighty God, whose design is often the basis of
human design.

Give God the glory.