Life Spans of Animals

 

(The New Book of Knowledge)

A lesser bird of paradise

 

(National Geographic, December 2012)

“Existence is of two kinds: one is the existence of God… The second kind of existence is the human existence.”

Existence is of two kinds: one is the existence of God which is beyond the comprehension of man. He, the invisible, the lofty and the incomprehensible, is preceded by no cause but rather is the Originator of the cause of causes. He, the Ancient, hath had no beginning and is the all-independent. The second kind of existence is the human existence. It is a common existence, comprehensible to the human mind, is not ancient, is dependent and hath a cause to it. The mortal substance does not become eternal and vice versa; the human kind does not become a Creator and vice versa. The transformation of the innate substance is impossible.

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (‘Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’)

The Color of Thought

The brain’s many regions are connected by some 100,000 miles of fibers called white matter – enough to circle the Earth four times. Images like this, taken at the Martinos Center, reveal for the first time the specific pathways underlying cognitive functions. The pink and orange bundles, for example, transmit signals critical for language. 
(National Geographic, February 2014)

Iceland's mountains of the Landmannalaugar highlands - popular hiking destination

(National Geographic, February 2014)

A viperfish in deep waters of Atlantic Ocean

The fearsome predator displays its meal-clinching assets; bioluminescent spots thoughts to lure prey in dark waters and a set of ferocious fangs. The teeth are strictly for seizing, as food is swallowed whole. 
(National Geographic, June 2011)

Snowflakes change shape with temperature

(National Geographic, Jan. 2007)

Worldwide journey of the three humans: Neanderthals, Denisovans, and Modern Humans

Neanderthals and Denisovans were closely related. DNA comparisons suggest that our ancestors diverged from theirs some 500,000 years ago. No skulls or tools have been found to reveal what the Denisovans looked or acted like. No one knows what happened when modern humans who had migrated from Africa first set eyes on them. What’s certain, from generic evidence, is that such encounters produced offspring. 
(National Geographic, July 2013)

Worlds of God

As to thy question concerning the worlds of God. Know thou of a truth that the worlds of God are countless in their number, and infinite in their range. None can reckon or comprehend them except God, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise… Verily I say, the creation of God embraceth worlds besides this world, and creatures apart from these creatures. In each of these worlds He hath ordained things which none can search except Himself, the All-Searching, the All-Wise. 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah’)

Our Moon is Born

The birth of the planets 4.5 billion years ago was extremely violent. They grew to full size by absorbing rival planet embryos in a series of titanic collisions – one of which probably gave Earth its moon. The moon’s large size, low density, and other features suggest that it emerged from an explosion of debris after a Mars-size protoplanet struck earth, vaporizing itself and part of Earth’s rocky mantle. According to one recent hypothesis, the moon had a little sister first. 

A-Birth

Rocky debris blasted into orbit coalesces into a moon – or maybe two – in less than a century. Most of the incoming protoplanet’s iron sank into Earth’s core, so the moon mass is less dense than Earth.

B-Moving out

Lunar gravity raises a tidal bulge on Earth; its spinning in turn accelerates the moon, causing it to spiral slowly outward. A sister moon, about a third as wide, orbits at a distance.

C-Splat

Within tens of millions of years the moon reels in its sister. Splatting onto the moon’s far side, it creates highlands there – a striking contrast to the low plains, called maria, on the side we see.

(National Geographic, July 2013)

Water bears

A color-enhanced electron microscope photo reveals a half-millimeter-long tardigrade in moss. Called water bears these eight-legged, alien-looking invertebrates can survive extreme pressure, radiation, and temperature - and years without food. (National Geographic, July 2013)

Animal is a “captive of nature” – man’s “natural impulse and desire”, however, need to be governed by teachings of the Prophets of God

In the world of existence the animal is a captive of nature. Its actions are according to the exigencies and requirements of nature. It has no consideration or consciousness of good and evil. It simply follows its natural instinct and inclination. The Prophets of God have come to show man the way of righteousness in order that he may not follow his own natural impulse but govern his action by the light of Their precept and example. According to Their teachings he should do that which is found to be praiseworthy by the standard of reason and judgment of intellect, even though it be opposed to his natural human inclination; and he should not do that which is found to be unworthy by that same standard, even though it be in the direction of his natural impulse and desire. Therefore, man must follow and manifest the attributes of the Merciful.

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Excerpt from a talk given on 21 April 1912 in Washington D.C.; ‘Promulgation of Universal Peace’)

The beginning of creation…

As regards thine assertions about the beginning of creation, this is a matter on which conceptions vary by reason of the divergences in men’s thoughts and opinions. Wert thou to assert that it hath ever existed and shall continue to exist, it would be true; or wert thou to affirm the same concept as is mentioned in the sacred Scriptures, no doubt would there be about it, for it hath been revealed by God, the Lord of the worlds. Indeed He was a hidden treasure. This is a station that can never be described nor even alluded to. And in the station of ‘I did wish to make Myself known’, God was, and His creation had ever existed beneath His shelter from the beginning that hath no beginning, apart from its being preceded by a Firstness which cannot be regarded as firstness and originated by a Cause inscrutable even unto all men of learning.

That which hath been in existence had existed before, but not in the form thou seest today. The world of existence came into being through the heat generated from the interaction between the active force and that which is its recipient. These two are the same, yet they are different. Thus doth the Great Announcement inform thee about this glorious structure. Such as communicate the generating influence and such as receive its impact are indeed created through the irresistible Word of God which is the Cause of the entire creation, while all else besides His Word are but the creatures and the effects thereof. Verily thy Lord is the Expounder, the All-Wise. 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)

Hummingbirds

Embraced by cloud forest almost a mile above sea level, the enclave of Mindo in Ecuador is a honey trap for hummingbirds. 

(National Geographic)

A Bird of Paradise in the interior jungle of New Guinea

(National Geographic)

“...every part of the universe is connected with every other part…”

Reflect upon the inner realities of the universe, the secret wisdoms involved, the enigmas, the interrelationships, the rules that govern all. For every part of the universe is connected with every other part by ties that are very powerful and admit of no imbalance, nor any slackening whatever.... 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a Tablet, The Compilation of Compilations, vol. I, Conservation of the Earth's Resources)

Klyuchevskaya Sopka

Klyuchevskaya Sopka is a stratovolcano. It is the highest mountain on the Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia and the highest active volcano of Eurasia. (Wikipedia and National Geographic)

A beautiful butterfly sitting on a bloom

(National Geographic)

Hawaiian Daytime Octopus

(National Geographic)

Does Milky Way galaxy orbit anything?

Our galaxy does indeed! The Milky Way is one of two large galaxies that make up what’s called the Local Group, which contains some fifty-odd galaxies. The other large galaxy involved is Andromeda, our closest galactic neighbor; our galaxy and Andromeda are slowly orbiting each other. The rest of the Local Group are mostly small things, like the Large or Small Magellanic Clouds, which are gravitationally tied to either the Milky Way or Andromeda, and orbit the larger galaxy to which they’re bound. Andromeda weighs in somewhere between 700 billion solar masses and a trillion solar masses. This is approximately the same mass as our own Milky Way, which is also usually considered to have about a trillion solar masses worth of stuff hanging around.