Lava & Plants

The many ridges and folds that form when the lava flow cools -- and eventually stops -- trap windblown dirt and seeds. Plants grow rapidly in the rich volcanic soil. In a matter of years, the entire area destroyed by a volcano can be revegetated. 

(Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia of Science Year Book)

Harvest mouse - Europe’s smallest rodent

A harvest mouse——grooms itself on a hogweed flower head in a meadow near Moulton, England. This adult was raised in captivity, microchipped, and released as part of a study on how the elusive species survives. 

(National Geographic magazine)

“Man” has always existed – even when there was no Earth

…the divinity of God, which is the totality of all perfections, reveals itself in the reality of man -- that is, the divine Essence is the sum total of all perfections, and from this station it casts a ray of its splendour upon the human reality. In other words, the Sun of Truth is reflected in this mirror. Thus man is a perfect mirror facing the Sun of Truth and is the seat of its reflection. The splendour of all the divine perfections is manifest in the reality of man, and it is for this reason that he is the vicegerent and apostle of God. If man did not exist, the universe would be without result, for the purpose of existence is the revelation of the divine perfections. We cannot say, then, that there was a time when man was not. At most we can say that there was a time when this earth did not exist, and that at the beginning man was not present upon it.

But from the beginning that has no beginning to the end that has no end, a perfect Manifestation has always existed. This Man of Whom we speak here is not just any man: That which we intend is the Perfect Man. For the noblest part of the tree, and the fundamental purpose of its existence, is the fruit. A tree without fruit is of no use. Therefore, it cannot be imagined that the world of existence, whether in the realms above or below, was once populated by cows and donkeys, cats, and mice, and yet was deprived of the presence of man. What a false and vacuous notion!

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Table talks in Akka, authenticated by ‘Abdu’l-Baha; ‘Some Answered Questions’ – 2014 revised translation by the Baha’i World Centre)

Mantis Shrimp

Mantis Shrimp, common name for a group of tropical marine crustaceans. Mantis shrimp are also called praying shrimp because they hold their large, hinged claws in a position reminiscent of hands clasped in prayer. Mantis shrimps vary in length from 6.4 to 56 cm (from 2.5 to 22 in). Their stalked eyes are borne on separate, movable segments. Mantis shrimp are nocturnal, foraging aggressively for food at night. (Encarta encyclopedia)

Peacock Bass

Fry of a Peacock Bass hover around their mom for protection against predators. Peacock Bass, part of the Cichlid family, exercise excellent parental care and will protect their young against any threat that approaches them. This tropical species from South America was intentionally introduced in South Florida during the 1980s to control the African Tilapia, another invasive species. (National Geographic)

Green Meteor

A green meteor around the Skyislands in India. The meteor’s greenish color come from a combination of the heating of oxygen around the meteor and the mix of minerals ignited as the rock enters Earth's atmosphere. (Adapted from National Geograohic)

Silversides

Silversides swirl through mangroves like a river in the sea. They are carnivorous fish with silvery band along each side of their bodies. The dense forest of roots offers welcome shelter for the finger-size fish, which form large schools to try to confuse predators. Mangroves enhance reefs by providing a nursery area for vulnerable creatures and by trapping sediment that can smother coral. They also store carbon that might otherwise contribute to global warming. 

(Adapted from Encarta encyclopedia and National Geographic magazine)

Viruses on other life-bearing planets

It has been proposed that viruses are likely to be encountered on other life-bearing planets. Efforts to discover current or past life on Mars is an active area of research. On 24 January 2014, NASA reported that current studies on the planet Mars by the Curiosity and Opportunity rovers will now be searching for evidence of ancient life, including a biosphere based on autotrophic, chemotrophic and/or chemolithoautotrophic microorganisms, as well as ancient water, including fluvio-lacustrine environments (plains related to ancient rivers or lakes) that may have been habitable. The search for evidence of habitability, taphonomy (related to fossils), and organic carbon on the planet Mars is now a primary NASA objective. 

(Wikipedia encyclopedia)

Diversity in nature

Consider the world of created beings, how varied and diverse they are in species, yet with one sole origin. All the differences that appear are those of outward form and colour. This diversity of type is apparent throughout the whole of nature.

Behold a beautiful garden full of flowers, shrubs, and trees. Each flower has a different charm, a peculiar beauty, its own delicious perfume and beautiful colour. The trees too, how varied are they in size, in growth, in foliage -- and what different fruits they bear! Yet all these flowers, shrubs and trees spring from the self-same earth, the same sun shines upon them and the same clouds give them rain.

So it is with humanity. It is made up of many races, and its peoples are of different colour, white, black, yellow, brown and red -- but they all come from the same God, and all are servants to Him. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a talk on October 28^th, 1911, Paris, France)

Octopus releasing protective ink

This algae octopus, Abdopus aculeatus, has just inked. Octopuses release ink when they feel threatened; the ink swirls into a dark cloud that distracts predators. The adaptation is ancient: Ink sacs are present in fossils of octopus ancestors that are more than 300 million years old. 
(National Geographic magazine)

Arizona, USA: Lightning & rainbow

In the Sonoran Desert near Red Rock, Arizona, a fast-moving electrical storm and a rainbow share the sky in this composite image. Several ranges in this part of Arizona, USA—including the nearby Tortolita Mountains—help spawn thunder and lightning. 
(National Geographic magazine)

Mammals that lay eggs and suckle their young

The duck-billed platypus and the echidna or spiny anteater, indigenous to Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea, are the only two species of mammals that lay eggs (a non-mammalian feature) but suckle their young (a mammalian feature). These mammals resemble reptiles in that they lay rubbery shell-covered eggs that are incubated and hatched outside the mother's body. In addition they resemble reptiles in their digestive, reproductive, and excretory systems, and in a number of anatomical details (eye structure, presence of certain skull bones, pectoral [shoulder] girdle, and rib and vertebral structures). However they are classed as mammals because they have fur and a four-chambered heart, nurse their young from gland milk, are warm-blooded, and have some mammalian skeletal features. 

(Adapted from 'The Handy Science Answer Book', compiled by the Science and Technology department of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh)

“…every fixed star hath its own planets, and every planet its own creatures…”

Thou hast, moreover, asked Me concerning the nature of the celestial spheres. To comprehend their nature, it would be necessary to inquire into the meaning of the allusions that have been made in the Books of old to the celestial spheres and the heavens, and to discover the character of their relationship to this physical world, and the influence which they exert upon it. Every heart is filled with wonder at so bewildering a theme, and every mind is perplexed by its mystery. God, alone, can fathom its import. The learned men, that have fixed at several thousand years the life of this earth, have failed, throughout the long period of their observation, to consider either the number or the age of the other planets. Consider, moreover, the manifold divergencies that have resulted from the theories propounded by these men. Know thou that every fixed star hath its own planets, and every planet its own creatures, whose number no man can compute. 

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

Solar Planets

(National Geographic)

Bioluminescent Jellyfish

Bioluminescence is emission of light from living organisms, without appreciable heat. The light results from a chemical reaction mediated by enzymes (see Enzyme) and involving specialized phosphorus-containing molecules in the organisms. Bioluminescence is found in species of bacteria, algae, fungi, and invertebrate animals. Some deep-sea fish are equipped with organs that produce luminescence to which prey is attracted. The flashes emitted by male and female fireflies are used as species-specific signals for mating. 

(Encarta encyclopedia)

Hurricane

A name given to violent storms that originate over the tropical or subtropical waters of the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, or North Pacific Ocean east of the International Date Line. Such storms over the North Pacific west of the International Date Line are called typhoons; those elsewhere are known as tropical cyclones, which is the general name for all such storms including hurricanes and typhoons. These storms can cause great damage to property and loss of human life due to high winds, flooding, and large waves crashing against shorelines.

The word "hurricane" comes from the Spanish "huracán," which in turn probably derived from the Native American Taino language of the Carib people. In Taino, Hurican is variously the god of evil or the god of the storm, and was imported himself from the Mayan god Hurakan.

There are 5 categories of hurricanes based on their sustained wind speeds:

Category 1          74-95 mph          

Category 2          96-110 mph

Category 3          111-129 mph

Category 4          130-156 mph

Category 5          157 mph or higher

(Encarta encyclopedia and Internet resources)

Baha’i Principle of: Harmony of Science and Religion

It has become customary in the West to think of science and religion as occupying two distinct -- and even opposed -- areas of human thought and activity. This dichotomy can be characterized in the pairs of antitheses: faith and reason; value and fact. It is a dichotomy which is foreign to Bahá'í thought…. The principle of the harmony of science and religion means not only that religious teachings should be studied with the light of reason and evidence as well as of faith and inspiration, but also that everything in this creation, all aspects of human life and knowledge, should be studied in the light of revelation as well as in that of purely rational investigation. In other words… when studying a subject, [one] should not lock out of his mind any aspect of truth that is known to him. 

(Memorandum from the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice, accompanied by a letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice dated 3 January 1979; ‘Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1963-1986’)

The “perfections of the spirit…appear in this world”

…it is necessary that the signs of the perfection of the spirit should be apparent in this world, so that the world of creation may bring forth endless results, and this body may receive life and manifest the divine bounties. So, for example, the rays of the sun must shine upon the earth, and the solar heat develop the earthly beings; if the rays and heat of the sun did not shine upon the earth, the earth would be uninhabited, without meaning, and its development would be retarded. In the same way, if the perfections of the spirit did not appear in this world, this world would be unenlightened and absolutely brutal. By the appearance of the spirit in the physical form, this world is enlightened. As the spirit of man is the cause of the life of the body, so the world is in the condition of the body, and man is in the condition of the spirit. If there were no man, the perfections of the spirit would not appear, and the light of the mind would not be resplendent in this world. This world would be like a body without a soul. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Compilation: ‘The Baha’i Faith’)

Central Asia: Tian Shan - "Sky-Mountain"

As the largest system of mountain ranges in Central Asia, Tian Shan—which translates to “sky-mountain” in Chinese—has one of the best collections of natural landscapes in the world and is considered a paradise for outdoor adventures. Thanks to the richness of the land’s sediments, compounded by the power of erosion caused by rivers flowing down the mountains, the north face of Tian Shan is carved into stunning plateaus and colorful canyons hundreds of meters deep, resulting in this surrealist painting in nature. 
(The National Geographic)

God’s creation has no beginning … and no end

God’s “creation… hath had no beginning, and will have no end. All that is created, however, is preceded by a cause. 

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