I just read a mind-boggling article from American Scientist, "The Magazine of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society," for March-April 2008. It was a book review of Mike Hansell's Built By Animals: The Natural History of Animal Architecture written by biology professor and author J. Scott Turner. This photo accompanied the article. It is a house built by a non-human organism, carried around by that creature for its protection. Tell me what created this. After I get some responses, I'll reveal the answer--you will be agog.
Should anyone ever doubt the existence of our Divine Designer G-d, just look at the amazing symmetry of this home, the spikes, the scalloped edges!The image rings a faint bell in me ole brain, and of course we don't know the proportion but I'm suspecting it's a small animal, hmmm - a bee? a sea critter? a hermit ant of some sort?...and let's next guess what organic material forms its home sweet home - wax,excrement,oral effluvia? the plot thickens, as the home apparently has...looking forward to the answer!
ReplyDeleteThe leviathan! :)
ReplyDeleteOkay, I really don't know, but it's cool. Some kind of snail?
I'm with doubletee (where are you? which coast of which sea... or lake?) - it has got to be something very, very small and humble, to keep the skeptics tossing and turning in their beds...
ReplyDeleteP.S. Thanks for obliging! Can't wait for the answer...
ReplyDeleteYou're right to think SMALL...though "the Leviathan" wins for most creative answer! But the organism wins for most creative creature! Keep guessing! And DO guess what material this "house" is made of...again, you'll be shocked to find out!
ReplyDeletePeanut butter!
ReplyDeleteOK, let's see how nerdy I can be. Firstly, that must be a microscopic image that's enlarged for the reader. Second, this 'house' looks like it is made of tiny rocks and/or sand.
ReplyDeleteSo...it's probably an itsy bitsy creature who lives in the dessert or water (where there's lots of rocks/sand) and who we've probably never heard of (and I am likely way off).
So, when will you reveal the answer?
Okay,here goes Try #2:a viciously viral organism? a mysterious dermatological mite? an artistically terrified tick? a pathetic parasite? a benign bedbug? I'm trying to picture the critter emerging from this pod, carving the curves in the front or alternately exploding out the spiky back door -- oh, do tell,LiteBrite, whut it be???!!!
ReplyDeleteI don't have a guess, as I am typically stupid about anything scientifically related. On that note, however, I have to mention my eagerness to behold any creature that lives in the dessert. Sounds yummy! :P
ReplyDelete