Michael Denton

Archives

For Fire, Nature Obliges Us with Rapid Reflexes

_{Michael Denton
August 13, 2020}

One area where very fast nerve conduction is vital is vision, more specifically, in keeping the eyes fixed on some object in the field of vision while in motion.

What if Our Muscles Were Less Powerful?

_{Michael Denton
August 12, 2020}

As every medical student comes to learn when first dissecting the human body at medical school, our limbs are almost entirely composed of muscles.

Appreciating the Design of Human Muscles

_{Michael Denton
August 11, 2020}

It is likely that no further improvement in muscle power can be achieved by increasing the density of packing of the myosin motors.

For Fire and More, Humans Are Designed to Have Just the Right Strength

_{Michael Denton
August 10, 2020}

How is it that an ant appears proportionately so much stronger than a trained human weight lifter?

Remarkably, Humans Are Just the Right Size to Make and Master Fire

_{Michael Denton
August 7, 2020}

Only an organism of our dimensions and android design — 1.5 to 2 meters in height with arms about 1 meter-long ending in manipulative tools — can handle fire.

How Man Became the Fire-Maker

_{Michael Denton
August 6, 2020}

Being terrestrial is one obvious requirement. No fully aquatic species could master fire and thus develop metallurgy.

Nature’s Magic and Its Breathtaking Parsimony

_{Michael Denton
August 5, 2020}

Without this ensemble of fitness in nature, there would be no wood, no fire, no metallurgy, no modern technology.

A Remarkable Mechanism for the Existence of Large Trees

_{Michael Denton
August 4, 2020}

The mechanism represents a unique and stunningly brilliant solution to the problem of raising water to the top of large trees.

The Amazing Circulation System of Trees

_{Michael Denton
August 3, 2020}

Clearly, unless water can be drawn several meters up the conduits in their tree trunks, large woody trees would be impossible.

The Role of Lignin for Fire, Explained

_{Michael Denton
August 2, 2020}

Without lignin, there would be no woody plants, no wood, no coal, no charcoal, no fire, no pottery, and certainly no iron or metallurgy.

Needed for Fire: All the Right Fuel

_{Michael Denton
July 31, 2020}

There is another aspect of the Earth’s environment that is absolutely crucial in allowing the utilization of fire for metal-based technologies.

In Praise of Copper, a Gift from Nature

_{Michael Denton
July 30, 2020}

If the conductivity of copper were ten times less, wires would have to be ten times the cross-sectional area to provide the same conductivity.

For a Technological Civilization, We Must Have Metals

_{Michael Denton
July 29, 2020}

It is very doubtful that any beings in the universe could develop a civilization remotely comparable with our own without the use of metals.

For Fire, Our Planet Is Just the Right Size

_{Michael Denton
July 28, 2020}

Self-evidently, the gravity on the surface of a planet limits the maximum size of large terrestrial organisms.

Why Do We Not Spontaneously Combust?

_{Michael Denton
July 27, 2020}

James Lovelock has pointed out that atmospheric levels of oxygen much above about 25 percent, let alone 30 percent, would cause raging conflagrations today.

By Design, Earth Is a Planet Fit for Fire

_{Michael Denton
July 25, 2020}

As we have seen so far in this series, fire was an absolutely crucial component in humanity’s rise to civilization and technology.

The Path to Technology Was Built into Nature

_{Michael Denton
July 24, 2020}

All these elements of fitness in nature for the development of technology, crucial to mankind’s rise to civilization, long preceded man’s arrival on Earth.

Combustion Is Anything but Ordinary

_{Michael Denton
July 23, 2020}

The combustion of wood or coal may seem so familiar as to be unworthy of any comment.

For Mankind, the Leap from Copper to Iron Was a Landmark Advance

_{Michael Denton
July 22, 2020}

The importance of metals, particularly iron, and the importance of the discovery of metallurgy can hardly be exaggerated.

Fire and Metals — Primal Discoveries, by Design

_{Michael Denton
July 21, 2020}

The ability to tame fire led to the invention of the art of cooking, and much more.