Bioinspired Flying Robots and Leprosy & God’s Providence | Stars, Cells, and God

Join Hugh Ross and Fazale “Fuz” Rana as they discuss new discoveries taking place at the frontiers of science that have theological and philosophical implications, including the reality of God’s existence.

 

Bioinspired Flying Robots

Drones the size of tiny flies could be sent en masse to inspect and diagnose hazardous sites, or fly through piles of rubble to find and determine the condition of trapped victims, or released from spacecraft to assist in exploration. By meticulously copying the designs in fruit flies and gnats, scientists used miniaturized, high-power density piezoelectric devices to develop the equivalent of flight muscles. They then copied the biological gyroscope in bees to make a gyroscope that weighs only 15 milligrams. These achievements show that copying God’s designs in his creatures enables us to build machines to help us fulfill our God-given mandate to manage Earth’s resources for our benefit and the benefit of all life.

 

Resources:

A Gyroscope-Free Visual-Inertial Flight Control and Wind Sensing System for 10-mg Robots

 

Leprosy & God’s Providence

Researchers have discovered that the mechanisms that M. leprae—the bacterium that causes leprosy—uses to spread within the human host are the same mechanisms that biomedical researchers may one day leverage to regenerate livers and, possibly, other organs. This discovery highlights God’s providential care for humanity.

 

Resources:

In vivo Partial Reprogramming by Bacteria Promotes Adult Liver Organ Growth without Fibrosis and Tumorigenesis

Reprogramming Adult Schwann Cells to Stem Cell-Like Cells by Leprosy Bacilli Promotes Dissemination of Infection

Additional Resources:

Viruses and God’s Providence

Viruses and God’s Providence Revisited