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Our Beautiful Universe
The wonderful and mysterious world of animals is so broad that thousands of books and scientific papers have been published on this subject. Many scientists have acknowledged that there are still many unknown facts about the lives of animals that humans have not been able to identify and explore.We will mention some examples of the beauties and wonders of the animal kingdom in order to make us think more deeply about the mysteries of creation.
The Mysterious World of Ants
Ants are creatures that are intelligent, hardworking, combative, responsible and devoted to their group. The entire life of an ant is spent in effort and all ants have a similar type of life. Whether soldier or worker ants, they are in the service of the community and strive for the survival of their colony.
Ants live a social life and have great respect for their rules. Ants are one of the world's most regulated creatures. In every colony there are three groups of ants:
The Queen: Her Job is to lay eggs and give birth to babies.
Worker Ants: They do not have wings and their work is to collect seeds and food, dig nests and protect the eggs and babies.
Male and Female Ants: They make up the smallest number of the inhabitants of a nest and possess four thin wings.
Ants have different groups; some have only a few hundred ants within them and in others, there are several million. In any case, the responsibilities are divided in each group and each ant performs its own tasks. In the world, there exist various types of ants and depending on the environment they live in. each one eats its own particular food.
Now we will look at some of the different kinds of ants to try to understand some of the wonders that this small insect possesses.
Harvester Ant
Gathers material from plants that are surrounding it and brings it back to its nest to make use of it.
Miller Ant
Has a large head and powerful jaws to grind seeds.
Dairy/Farmer Ant
A type of aphid exists which eats from plants, resulting in the release of honeydew. The dairying ant takes these aphids and nourishes them. The ant brings leaves for the aphid to its nest and 'milks' it for its honeydew. The actions of this ant are like that of a shepherd who takes care of his sheep.
Gardener Ant
Grows tiny mushrooms upon which it depends for food. In order to cultivate mushrooms, the ant creates a garden, which produces a paste and then it grows the mushrooms on it.
Carnivorous Ant (Army Ant)
Among ants, the Army Am is the most fearsome because it only eats flesh and lives in tropical regions. This am launches military expeditions, and travels in colonies, which can range from several centimeters in width and up to hundreds of meters in length. In the colony, Worker Ants carry the larvae and Army Ants protect the flanks. When the colony is in motion, nothing but water or fire is able to prevent it from moving. Sometimes when there is a large body of water in from of the colony, some of the ants stick together like a rope and form a bridge so that the other ants can pass over the water. However, the ants that formed the bridge afterwards drown in the water; this is a sacrifice that they make for their fellow ants.
Weaver Ant
These ants make their nests between the leaves of tropical trees. First, they choose two leaves near to each other, and then some ants take the edge of one leaf and press down on it. The back and legs are held lightly by another group of ants and when the edges of two leaves become next to each other, one of the worker ants chooses a larva that is in the last stages of turning into pupate and by pressing the larva, drops of silk arc produced. This worker ant moves the larva back and forth and with the silk stitches the two leaves together.
The Future Awareness of Ants
Within the Honeypot Ants there is a special group of ants who hang from the ceiling of the nest and they are fed with nectar from those ants who have returned from seeking food. Their stomachs become like bags filled with nectar. When food becomes scarce, these ants are able to retrieve the nectar and dispense droplets of fluid from their stomachs into the mouths of other ants for them to eat.
Guiding Ants
Chemical molecules called pheromones, assist ants while walking on the ground to leave their imprint and guide other ants to food. This act is complex and requires training among the ants. An instructor (female) has the responsibility to train other ants in this task. First she finds a novice who is willing to follow her to look for food and provides it with instructions. When the student walks, it repeatedly comes to a halt and with its legs, hits the abdomen and legs of the instructor for it to know that she should continue with the process. If the student does not perform this act, the instructor halts. If the distance between the two becomes too great, the instructor slows down until the student speeds up. The student ant learns so well from the instructor ant that it can become a teacher and allow the transmission of knowledge between the ants to be maintained.
There are amazing instances of mutual co-existence between different kinds of animals. For example, there is a special type of fish called the Remora, which attaches itself to sharks with the aid of a sucking disc which is located on top of its head. Fastening itself to a shark, the Remora fish initiates a symbiotic co-existence: The Remora gets a free and safe ride-as there are not many fish bold enough to attack a shark - and cats off of its host's leftovers and in turn benefits the shark by cleaning it free of harmful parasites.
Another instance of a mutual relationship in the animal world is the peculiar relation that exists between a certain species of fish called Goby and a type of blind shrimp, in the depths of some seas and oceans. The near blind furrowing shrimp attaches its antennae to the Goby, following it around in search of food. In the event of an approaching danger, the Goby notifies the shrimp by flicking the shrimp with its tail. The Goby, in return, benefits from the shrimp by inhabiting the furrow made by the shrimp.
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Heavenly Bodies
Quasars are the brightest celestial objects in the universe and for a long time were considered as being among the stars. Quasars are much smaller than galaxies, but they are brighter than hundreds of galaxies. These objects were discovered in 1960, but astronomers only reached an agreement about their nature in 1980. They came to the conclusion that a quasar is a compact region at the center of a large galaxy that has a black hole within it. The energy released from a quasar can be as much as 1000 times the energy released from the entire Milky Way. To date, more than 200 thousand quasars have been identified and the nearest of them to us is 600 million light years away, while the furthest one is 28 billion light years away. If you ponder upon these numbers and dimensions, you will realize that the earth, with all its grandeur and vastness, is equivalent to a drop in the ocean. Now, think about how much space you occupy in this world.
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The Vastness of the Universe
To know the exact dimensions of the universe is very difficult. By placing multiple zeros, we try to draw a comparison between earth and the universe around us. However, the reality is much larger than what we can imagine. If one night we were able to get away from the artificial lights of the city, which obscure the light from the stars, we would see an amazing sky above us. Without a telescope we would be able to see three thousand stars. Some stars are much larger than the sun, such as Betelgeuse which is 650 times larger than the sun: its diameter is approximately 900 million kilometers in length. The diameter of the sun is approximately 109 limes larger than that of the earth. Another point of interest is the numbers of stars that are visible on a dark night are not even a thousandth or a millionth of the stars existing in the universe. Scientists have estimated that there are 100 billion trillion stars in the universe. Furthermore, recent studies conducted using the Keck Telescope in Hawaii put the estimate to 300 sextillion (23 zeros after the number 3). This number of stars does not include other amazing celestial bodies.
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The Graveyard of Cell
Perhaps you have thought about the existence of insects such as beetles and flies: what roles do they have and whether their non-existence would leave a vacuum in the world. That some animals and plants appear to be useless to us is not surprising. However, for our body organs to have no role or purpose, seems strange. For example, there is a gland in humans called the thymus located in the chest behind the breastbone (sternum). Although the gland was identified and named in the era of ancient Greece, it was not known to have any significant role, and was considered to be pretty useless, until in 1961 Jacques Miller was able to perform a series of experiments and identify the critical role of this gland Now, medical students are well aware of the thymus as it is considered as the graveyard of dead cells, it has a unique role in the immune system and without it, we would not survive.
The body’s immune system is like a great army consisting of various military ranks. One of the most important ranks is the T cell. When foreign organisms like viruses and bacteria enter the body, they are destroyed by these cells.
These cells like other cells in the blood, are derived from stem cells in bone marrow. Originally they are immature cells, which for training and development are sent to the thymus. In addition to learning military skills, they are trained to identify the enemy. This training is a very important and precise matter, because if this powerful military stages a coup against the human body, it can end its life.
Therefore it must be able to precisely identify billions of cells of the body in order to distinguish between native and foreign cells. This knowledge is acquired in the embryonic period. At a certain stage of the embryonic period, cells from each of the different types of cells of the body arc sent to the thymus as representative cells.
On the surface of even- cell there are receptor molecules. Through the receptor molecules on the cell’s surface. T cells arc able to differentiate between native and foreign cells. When cells in the body send their representatives to the thymus. T cells match themselves with them. We can say that all of the body’s cells send locks to the thymus in order that the appropriate keys to them are made in the thymus. Thus, every time the T cell police patrol encounters a cell, it tests its lock; any time it can open its lock it identifies it as native, otherwise it considers it an enemy and combats it. The training period in the thymus is tough. In this course, T cells are evaluated and tested. Field trials of military offenders and traitors are held in the thymus. T cells that attack native cells are sentenced to death by the thymus and are destroyed.
Interestingly, super intelligent immune cells sometimes make the work of doctors difficult. This is because when an organ is transplanted into another person, the T cells do not have any record of the cells in the new organ, and without knowing the intention of the doctor or patient, considers them as enemies and repulses them. That is why doctors are forced to prescribe drugs that weaken the soldiers.
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Introduction
Human behavior is influenced by a set of fundamental beliefs and ideas to which a person attests.These beliefs can be derived from experience and individual reflection, external sources such as one's family and community or based on the divine teachings of prophets. Normally, a person's ideology is based on a relative coherence and unity of their beliefs which results in a set of aligned ideas and values that constitute his doctrinal system. The extent to which these principles lead to truth and salvation, the more they will be a light for the guidance and development of the individual. A person can assess the coherence and veracity of their belief system or the teachings of various religions by two powerful tools: reason and innate nature (fitrah). The intellect and innate nature can verify the doctrines of a religion only when it has been conveyed accurately and comprehensively. If a person does not have sufficient awareness of its doctrines or concepts have been mistakenly attributed to the religion, then his judgments will be equally incorrect.