Topics: Animals; Beauty; Creation; Creator; Human Worth; Nature;
References: Psalm 8; 139:13–14; Matthew 10:29–31; Romans 1:20
The pesky housefly is the most talented aerodynamicist on the planet—superior to any bird, bat, or bee. According to a British scientist, “a housefly can make six turns a second, hover, fly straight up, fly straight down, fly backwards, do somersaults, land on the ceiling, and perform various other show-off maneuvers. And it has a brain smaller than a sesame seed.”
Flies are also loaded with sensors. In addition to their compound eyes, which permit panoramic imagery and are excellent at detecting motion, flies have wind-sensitive hairs and antennae. They also have three light sensors, called ocelli, on the tops of their heads, which tell them which way is up. Roughly two-thirds of a fly’s entire nervous system is devoted to processing visual images.
If God put so much wisdom into ordinary houseflies, imagine what it means to know that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.”
—Joel Achenbach, “Fly Like a Fly,” National Geographic (June 2006)