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.

Atom

Atom is the tiny basic building block of matter. All the material on Earth is composed of various combinations of atoms. Atoms are the smallest particles of a chemical element that still exhibit all the chemical properties unique to that element. A row of 100 million atoms would be only about a centimeter long.  Understanding atoms is key to understanding the physical world. More than 100 different elements exist in nature, each with its own unique atomic makeup. The atoms of these elements react with one another and combine in different ways to form a virtually unlimited number of chemical compounds. When two or more atoms combine, they form a molecule. For example, two atoms of the element hydrogen (abbreviated H) combine with one atom of the element oxygen (O) to form a molecule of water (H20). 

(Encarta Encyclopedia)

Octopus - 35% of its neurons are in the brain and 65% in its arms

In number of neurons, octopuses and their relatives far exceed other invertebrates and put rodents, frogs, and many other vertebrates to shame.

Pond snails have 0.01 million neurons; mouse 80 million; octopus 500 million; and human has 86,000 million neurons.

An octopus’s nervous system processes information not just in the brain but also throughout all eight arms and the suckers that line them.

The brain of octopus contains one-third of its neurons. It handles higher executive functions, such as decision-making, learning, and memory, as well as coordination of complex movements. Most of an octopus’s neurons are in its arms. Each has interlinked control centers, or ganglia, that relay information to the brain and also independently control movements such as extending or twisting an arm. 

(National Geographic magazine)

Evolution of man

In the world of existence man has traversed successive degrees until he has attained the human kingdom. In each degree of his progression he has developed capacity for advancement to the next station and condition. While in the kingdom of the mineral he was attaining the capacity for promotion into the degree of the vegetable. In the kingdom of the vegetable he underwent preparation for the world of the animal, and from thence he has come onward to the human degree, or kingdom. Throughout this journey of progression he has ever and always been potentially man. . 

- ‘Abdu'l-Baha  (From a talk, 6 July 1912, New York; ‘The Promulgation of Universal Peace’)

Orangutans stay with mother for up to 10 years

An 11-month-old baby copies mom at mealtime. The juvenile will stay with its mother for up to 10 years as she passes on essential survival skills. Among them: how to find the most nutritious rain forest fruits. 

(National Geographic magazine)

Purpose of Man’s Creation

The purpose of the creation of man is the attainment of the supreme virtues of humanity through descent of the heavenly bestowals. The purpose of man's creation is, therefore, unity and harmony, not discord and separateness. If the atoms which compose the kingdom of the minerals were without affinity for each other, the earth would never have been formed, the universe could not have been created. Because they have affinity for each other, the power of life is able to manifest itself, and the organisms of the phenomenal world become possible. When this attraction or atomic affinity is destroyed, the power of life ceases to manifest; death and nonexistence result. 

-‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a talk on 12 April 1912 at Home of Mr. and Mrs. Howard MacNutt; ‘The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by 'Abdu'l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912’)

Comforting a young Rhino

Lulah’s mother was killed by poachers in Kruger National Park. She now lives at Care for Wild Africa, a sanctuary specializing in rhinos. Staff member Dorota Ladosz lives with her full-time and comforts her after surgery to repair wounds inflicted by hyenas before her rescue. 

(National Geographic magazine)

Befriending a deer

A Buddhist monk cares for a spotted deer he rescued when he found it alone in the forest near the ruins of Ritigala Monastery in Sri Lanka. 

(National Geographic magazine)

Global & Regional Winds

Winds blow on both a regional scale and a global scale. Global-scale belts of moving air spiral around the Earth, driven by the Sun's energy. As the Earth turns, the circular wind cells become spiral belts, such that air moving toward the equator blows to the west, and air moving toward the poles blows to the east. Regional winds may augment or diminish global winds. 

(Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia of Science Year Book)