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Glimpses of Wonder

Heart of the Matter — a Glimpse of Wonder entry™ (Part 8 of 9) —

Heart of the Matter — a Glimpse of Wonder entry™ (Part 8 of 9) —   The human heart starts beating just three weeks after conception. Before the brain forms. Before the limbs take shape. Before the mother even knows she’s pregnant… a tiny pulse begins.   But what begins as a flicker becomes a thunderous transformation.   Inside the womb, the baby’s heart doesn’t function like yours does. Not yet. It’s running a temporary, alternate design—tailored for a world wh
Glimpses of Wonder

The Breath Before the Breath — a Glimpse of Wonder entry™ (Part 7 of 9) —

The Breath Before the Breath — a Glimpse of Wonder entry™ (Part 7 of 9) —   A baby’s first breath is a moment we celebrate. Cameras flash. Applause erupts. Tears flow. But long before that air ever fills the lungs, the body is preparing—in ways we’re only beginning to understand.   Inside the womb, a baby does not breathe air. Oxygen arrives through the umbilical cord, carried in the mother’s blood, passed through the placenta. The lungs? For now, they’re closed for busi
Glimpses of Wonder

Silent Witnesses — a Glimpse of Wonder entry™ (Part 6 of 9) —

Silent Witnesses — a Glimpse of Wonder entry™ (Part 6 of 9) —   Inside the womb, a child develops in secret. No breath. No sound. And yet… not alone.   From the earliest days of pregnancy, a complex conversation begins between mother and child. Not with words or thoughts, but with molecules. Proteins. Signals. Each one sent and received in precise timing.   Some of these silent exchanges are expected—hormones that help the placenta grow, blood vessels that dila
Glimpses of Wonder

When Balance Breaks — a Glimpse of Wonder entry™ (Part 5 of 9) —

When Balance Breaks — a Glimpse of Wonder entry™ (Part 5 of 9) —   When everything works as it should, pregnancy is a marvel of cooperation—a mother’s body nurturing a genetically distinct life with perfect timing and grace. But what happens when that quiet agreement falters?   The results can be catastrophic… or revealing.   Some of the most dangerous pregnancy complications arise when the carefully calibrated dance between maternal and paternal genes, hormone
Glimpses of Wonder

The Tug of Genes — a Glimpse of Wonder entry™ (Part 4 of 9) —

The Tug of Genes — a Glimpse of Wonder entry™ (Part 4 of 9) —   At first glance, it seems like the developing baby is quietly following instructions—just executing a prewritten plan. But look closer, and you’ll see something far more dynamic: a silent negotiation, a tug-of-war not between parent and child, but between the parents themselves—inside the child.   It’s called genomic imprinting, and it’s one of the most surprising discoveries in modern genetics.  
Glimpses of Wonder

Terraformers Within — a Glimpse of Wonder entry™ (Part 3 of 9) —

Terraformers Within — a Glimpse of Wonder entry™ (Part 3 of 9) —   Long before a baby’s first breath, a quiet drama unfolds inside the womb. It’s not soft lullabies and warm pastel colors—it’s more like an intense negotiation behind the scenes of life.   Picture this: A tiny cluster of cells, just days old, begins a bold invasion. This is the placenta, a structure built not by the mother, but by the baby—more specifically, by the father’s genes inside the baby. Like an advanc
Glimpses of Wonder

Divine Engineering Begins— a Glimpse of Wonder entry™ (Part 2 of 9) —

Divine Engineering Begins— a Glimpse of Wonder entry™ (Part 2 of 9) —   By the time the embryo nestles into the uterine wall, the future is already humming beneath the surface.   It’s been about a week since conception. Still invisible to the naked eye, this cluster of cells—now called a blastocyst—is anything but simple. Inside it, a fluid-filled cavity forms, surrounded by an outer layer of cells and a compact inner cell mass. That inner group? It will become the baby. The
Glimpses of Wonder

Spark and Blueprint — a Glimpse of Wonder entry™ (Part 1 of 9) —

Spark and Blueprint — a Glimpse of Wonder entry™ (Part 1 of 9) —   We tend to think of conception as a beginning. And it is. But maybe not in the way we imagine.   The moment a sperm fuses with an egg, something astonishing happens—something that science only recently discovered. A flash of light. Literally. As the two cells unite, a radiant wave of zinc particles is released from the surface of the egg. Some scientists call it a "zinc firework." But it’s more than celebrator
Glimpses of Wonder

Hidden Wonders of the Womb - 9 part series Coming Soon!

Hidden Wonders of the Womb — a Glimpse of Wonder entry™ — What if you could watch a masterpiece being painted—but only from underneath the canvas? Science tries this all the time. Researchers piece together discoveries from the womb like a mosaic, but many of its most beautiful features are still hidden in the shadows. Some things are just hard to observe while they’re happening.   This nine-part series explores a few of those hidden marvels.   These entries a
Glimpses of Wonder

When Dinner Blooms

— a Glimpse of Wonder entry™ —   They hide in plain sight on our dinner plates, quietly disguising themselves as mere vegetables. But surprise—some of the most common “veggies” we eat are actually flowers.   Take cauliflower, for example. What we usually eat is the tightly packed head of immature flower buds. If left unharvested, that pale dome will erupt into a bouquet of small, mustard-yellow blossoms. Broccoli does the same thing—those little green nubs are each waiting th
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dljbsp in Plants

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Glimpses of Wonder

The Cactus That Doesn’t Jump

— a Glimpse of Wonder entry™ —   It sounds like something out of a desert horror movie: a cactus that leaps out to attack unsuspecting hikers. But despite its infamous nickname, the jumping cholla doesn’t actually jump. It just lets go—and lets gravity (and your clothing) do the rest.   The cholla’s spiny segments are lightly attached to the plant’s main body. All it takes is the brush of a pant leg, a curious dog, or an unfortunate ankle—and snap!—a segment detaches and stic
Glimpses of Wonder

When Fruit Fights Back

— a Glimpse of Wonder entry™ —   Most of the time, fruit is on your side. Apples crunch, grapes burst, and bananas politely melt in your mouth. But every now and then, one turns on you.   Enter the pineapple.   If you’ve ever felt a tingling, stinging, or even burning sensation after a few juicy bites, you’re not alone—and you’re not imagining things. Pineapples contain bromelain, an enzyme with a very specific talent: it breaks down proteins. And that includes the
Glimpses of Wonder

The Not-So-Humorous Humerus: Anatomy of an Unfunny Situation

— a Glimpse of Wonder entry™ — Have you ever hit your “funny bone”?   If so, you know it’s anything but funny. That sudden jolt of tingling pain shoots down your arm, stopping you mid-sentence and stealing your breath away—like some invisible prankster jabbed a lightning rod into your elbow.   But here’s the twist: it’s not even a bone. The so-called funny bone is actually the ulnar nerve, and it runs just under the skin at your elbow, right near the humerus—the upper ar
Glimpses of Wonder

The First AI?

a Glimpse of Wonder entry™   Artificial Intelligence—two words that seem to belong to our time, our technology, and our tangled age of cloud computing and digital voices. But what is AI, really? And how far back does it go? A Strict Definition By definition, artificial intelligence refers to a system—created by humans—that can perform tasks requiring intelligence, such as decision-making, problem-solving, or learning. The system must act on inputs from its environment and pro
Glimpses of Wonder

Saturn: A Giant Worthy of Awe

A Glimpses of Wonder Entry   We often speak of Saturn’s luminous rings — delicate, shimmering, and vast — as though that were her defining feature. And to be fair, they are breathtaking: a band of icy particles sweeping more than 170,000 miles from end to end, yet no thicker than a two-story building. They gleam against the dark like spun glass, and within their span, you could lay two Earths side by side with room to spare.   But Saturn is so much more than her jewelry.
Glimpses of Wonder

Saturn’s Rings: A Sculpted Wonder

A Glimpses of Wonder Entry   Stretching tens of thousands of miles across Saturn’s middle, the rings sweep outward like a shimmering halo — yet they are astonishingly thin. In most places, they are no deeper than 30 feet — about the height of a modest two-story building. Even if you expanded Earth to the size of Saturn, you could hardly recreate something so wide, yet so delicate. It’s as if Jehovah Himself brushed a perfect ribbon around the planet, like a bow across strings — a harmo
Glimpses of Wonder

The Power of the Nip: Animal Reactions to Natural Triggers

A Glimpses of Wonder Entry   It was just a spoonful of peanut butter. I wasn’t trying to do anything special — just being a kid, enjoying a snack, hovering near my hamster’s tank. He was asleep, of course. Hamsters are like tiny, grumpy old men in fur coats who hate being disturbed before sundown.   But then I breathed.   Just a soft exhale through the wire cover, and suddenly the wood chips stirred. Not much, just a twitch — then a nose, rising like it was being dr
Glimpses of Wonder

There is only ONE first time.

A Glimpses of Wonder Entry     There’s something strange happening out there, and it’s not hiding in the woods or floating past Saturn. It’s closer. Much closer. In fact, it’s lodged right between a headline and a hashtag.   It’s the kind of thing you hear when someone leans forward and says with great conviction, "This is the first time this has happened since the last time it happened." Well. Stop the presses.   We used to reserve the word “first”
Glimpses of Wonder

The Hidden Flock of Saturn

A Glimpses of Wonder Entry     When Christiaan Huygens first pointed his homemade telescope at Saturn in 1655, he spotted something extraordinary: a tiny speck of light orbiting the distant planet. It was Titan, Saturn's largest moon — and for a long time, Titan was all we knew. One moon. One companion for that giant ringed world.   But Jehovah’s creations often unfold in layers, only revealing their fullness when we are ready to see them. In the centuries that fol
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dljbsp in Creation

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Glimpses of Wonder

Chareing Laughter is Fun

A Moment of Wonder   They say laughter is contagious. (And if it’s not, I’ve been fake-laughing at the wrong people for years.)   But what if the real wonder isn’t in the laugh itself— but in the act of chareing it?   Yes, I know. “Chare” is a typo. But I’m keeping it.   It sounds like something between cheer and care, and honestly? That’s what laughter does.   It cheers us up. It shows we care. It dances b
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dljbsp in Sensory

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Glimpses of Wonder

“Nothing” Is Stupid

A Glimpses of Wonder Entry   My grandkids were over today, filling the house with laughter, crumbs, and about six different conversations at once. Somewhere between snack time and a very serious debate about which dinosaur is the coolest, I said, almost without thinking, “Well… nothing is stupid.”   You’d have thought I’d said a bad word. Wait—I did, apparently. Big eyes. Shocked faces. “PAPA! You said stupid!”   I tried to explain. “No, no, no—I didn’t call yo
Glimpses of Wonder

It’s About Time

A Glimpses of Wonder Entry   Time is weird.   We chase it. We waste it. We try to kill it. (Which sounds a bit aggressive, but okay.) We say things like “I’ll be there in five,” even though “five” is flexible, “there” is abstract, and we haven’t even left the house.   But then something finally happens—and out it comes:   “It’s about time.”   Three little words. But listen closely, and you’ll hear the ache behind them: The sigh of someo
Glimpses of Wonder

The Edible Illusion: Seeded in Mystery II

A Glimpses of Wonder Entry   Welcome back. If the first entry left you marveling over the mislabeled tomato, this next installment takes us even deeper into the delicious puzzle. Because when it comes to fruits and vegetables, the confusion doesn't end at the salad bar—it reaches into our snacks, our soil, and the very seeds we munch without a second thought. Peas in a Pod… and Beans, Too Let’s begin with two familiar faces: peas and green beans. They both grow in pods and bo

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