Journal Aug 2012 16Pp

“It is a logical consequence of Darwinian Is there anyone out thinking that man is not alone in the there? universe; that other civilizations exist and flourish out there; that among these must Mankind has a fascination with the be some superior to our own, able and immensity of the universe: is there any willing to instruct us in the elusive art of other intelligent life out there, or are we peaceful coexistence. alone? Surprisingly, the answer may be more easily found but more challenging to “With the opening of the new millennium accept than many evolutionists might we therefore find many eyes turned realize. Prof Vernon Jenkins, a highly heavenwards in anticipation of some non- qualified mathematician, writes the random signal emanating from the depths following: of space that would confirm the existence of such beings. Assuming the fulfilment of these expectations, it is highly likely that regular communication would follow and, in due course, direct contact. “In the initial stages of this scenario mathematical absolutes - particularly those associated with number and form - are expected to assume fundamental roles. For example, the repeated transmission of a sequence comprising the first thousand or so cubic numbers is highly likely to capture the interest and attention of any intelligent receptor - thereby achieving the immediate purpose of announcing its author's galactic presence. If intelligent life exists among the stars then we might expect to receive signals from some of these civilisations - but so far there have been “However, in their eagerness to pursue none. Image: The Andromeda galaxy (NASA extraterrestrial liaisons and find salvation Marshall Space Flight Center). 1 among the stars, the world's scientific and have found the instruments upon which intellectual elite appear to have overlooked they played, but they stop short of telling a similar message closer to home - one their readers and students about the science expressed in equally persuasive terms.” and Pythagorean level of mathematics that go into the design and manufacture of even Prof Jenkins’ website draws attention to a simple flute. some real and remarkable mathematical phenomena and their far-reaching Not that these flutes were in any way implications. These are associated, in simple. They weren’t. One that was particular, with the Bible's opening discovered at Hohle Fels Cave in France is Hebrew words, the Greek form of the name about 20cm long and 2.5cm wide. It has Jesus Christ (understood by Christians to markings clearly indicating where the be The Creator), and the riddle of finger holes should be drilled (as drilled Revelation 13:18. they were with perfection), and an ingeniously carved end-blown double v- CSM warmly commends readers to view shaped fipple. A replica of it has yet to be these astonishing mathematical facts for made, which does not surprise me. themselves - facts that demonstrate beyond all reasonable doubt that the Bible must The method of manufacture was this. The have been designed by an intelligent Being ivory tusk from which it was made, was infinitely superior to ourselves. See first split in two. Then the bore was carved http://homepage.virgin.net/vernon.jenkins/ out and the holes drilled, and then the two index.htm. halves were put together again and sealed with an airtight glue. Where exactly we could buy a glue which lasts (allegedly) for forty thousand years is a question that Early whistleblowers would interest all DIY and hobby enthusiasts. Moreover, the holes are At several sites now, archaeologists have bevelled, which makes a better airtight seal unearthed flute-like musical instruments for the fingers playing the instrument. Thus, from the so-called Stone Age, and they these ‘Stone Age bone flutes’ are very express surprise that our early forebears sophisticated indeed, and could produce were even capable of making music, let the same range of tones as any modern alone appreciating it. One article on a flute! particular discovery says how the makers would have ripped off with their teeth the As a collector and player of replica raw meat from the bone from which the medieval recorders, I know something (just flute was made, this giving the reader a something) of their complexity and powerful mental image of grunting ape- exactitude of manufacture, and admire like savages getting ready to make music.1 greatly the craftsmen who can turn them out. But let us remember this. Nowadays, If only the archaeologists would finish the once the jigs and lathes are set up to story though. They are compelled to admit prescribed specifications, recorders and that these ancient forebears of ours made flutes can be manufactured by the thousand. and doubtless enjoyed music because they But when you have to make them 2 individually out of bone or ivory (the Ach 2. The Book of Genesis (4: 21) tells us that Valley flute of Southern Germany has five the “father of all such as handle the harp holes and is carved from the wing bone of and organ,” was Jubal. We take our word a giant vulture), then you need to ‘jubilee’ from his name, which is worth recalculate the maths to account for the remembering in this royal jubilee year. differences in bore, the sometimes varying thicknesses of the bone, its length, Addendum: curvature and so on. Nothing is A videoclip has recently been produced by standardized. Each instrument has to be a professional flute maker that gives designed and the holes calculated (and not further insights into the production and just their positions on the flute, but their playing of the “ice age flute”. See diameters too) individually. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBUFR mQ4eso Constant tuning and retuning is required throughout the manufacturing process, and when I spoke earlier of the Pythagorean level of mathematics required for all this, I Open wide was not joking. Try making one yourself and see. Even if you are already a From time to time CSM has commented on craftsman in the field, you’ll really have the remarkable design of whales - superbly your work cut out. But our ancient fitted for their particular habitats and forebears, the makers of the Hohle Fels and modes of life. Now it seems that even one Ach Valley flutes, they knew how to do it, of the best studied groups of whales, the and could calculate the maths allowing rorquals, can still provide a surprise or two. even for the curvature of the bone or tusk. Reported on the BBC News website Which is all very baffling for the experts, (http://goo.gl/W9mKx, accessed 23 June for not only did our forebears have to know 2012) has been the discovery of a how to make these instruments, they also previously unrecognised organ situated had to know the purpose for which they between the two bones at the front tip of a were making them – the sounding of a rorqual whale’s lower jaw. series of natural notes (on both the pentatonic and heptatonic scales); not Rorqual whales feed by opening their discordant, out of tune notes, but notes that mouths very suddenly, engulfing enormous were resonant and pleasing to the ear and quantities of seawater and the animals senses. This they achieved. Grunting swimming in it. The animals are then savages ripping raw meat from the bone trapped and filtered out from the water by with their teeth? Something tells me in all the whales' baleen plates. Dr Pyenson, a this that Darwin and his modern followers researcher at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, was reported as saying 2 have got it wrong - terribly, terribly wrong. that a rorqual whale's feeding lunge was "one of the largest biomechanical events on Bill Cooper Earth". References How do such whales control this enormous 1. http://goo.gl/w6Qky gape accurately and without damaging 3 Cuttings & Comments from New Scientist by Dr David Rosevear 7 April p.4 – Bad attitude This short article bemoans the fact that Republican candidates in the US presidential primaries assert that global warming is a hoax, and support the Humpback whales feeding - note the enormous teaching of intelligent design. They are “a gape. Image in the public domain. science-free zone”! themselves? Dr Pyenson and his colleagues “While trust [in science] has remained examined the jaws of fin and minke whales, strong among liberals, for conservatives dissecting them and using high resolution it has gradually declined. The decline is medical imaging to examine the carcasses, not due to ignorance: it has been and so discovered the hidden sensory organ. strongest among conservatives with the "This shows us how they do it so quickly, most education.” Surely that should tell co-ordinating the inflation of the throat them something. pouch with the opening of the jaws... and closing their mouth to prevent prey 7 April p.14 – Brain organised like street escaping - all in under 10 seconds" he said. grid of NYC The sensory organ picks up signals from A team from a Boston, Mass. hospital the jaw as it starts to open. Nerves from the claims that the tens of billions of organ then send signals to the brain, connecting nerve fibres in the human brain triggering the whales' dramatic and are not tangled like a huge bowl of complex feeding lunge. spaghetti. They are laid out like a 3- dimensional grid of fibres that are then folded up. Dr Gareth Fraser, from the University of The grid, revealed by MRI scans, was more Sheffield, commented that the discovery obvious in ‘lower’ primates, with revealed a unique adaptation that mammals progressively more folds and curves of the had made to an "aquatic lifestyle".

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