Amazing Dandelion Seeds

New research at the University of Edinburgh has found that dandelion seeds have “a remarkable form of flight never before seen in nature.” Using a specially-designed wind tunnel, long-exposure and high-speed photography, X-rays, and microscopes, researchers were amazed to find that the seed bristles (collectively called the pappus) create ring-shaped air bubbles to form a vortex that increases air resistance and slows descent (“Scientists unlock the secrets of the flying dandelion seeds,” New Atlas, Oct. 19, 2018). The dandelion seed is four times more efficient in maintaining altitude than a human parachute. But of course, we know that while a human parachute and the scientists’ research equipment are intelligently designed, the dandelion is an accident of evolution. Don’t we?

​(Friday Church News Notes, October 26, 2018, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143)

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