Animals such as butterflies, turtles, and birds are given the ability to perceive the Earth’s magnetic field and navigate themselves accordingly. Migratory species also benefit from the sun, stars, and even scents in nature as they from one place to another.

Magnetic fields and poles

Modern studies have focused on how animals perceive the Earth’s magnetic field and act accordingly. We need to look closer at the Earth’s “magnetic polar points” to understand how magnetic fields work exactly.

It is important not to confuse geographic and magnetic poles. There is a layer called the “inner core” in the center of our Earth where all substances are in a fluid state, similar to those seen in volcanic eruptions. Volatile and molten elements such as nickel and iron form a magnetic electric field above the Earth. This is also the force that is responsible for causing our compasses to point north. At the center, the Earth’s magnetic field changes due to these fluid substances. That is, our compass does not always show the “true north,” i.e. the exact geographical north.

As of the last decade, the Earth’s magnetic pole has kept moving at a rate of about 55 km per year. The magnetic north pole, found in Canada in 1831, has now shifted 2300 km and approached Siberia. Scientists say that about 780 thousand years ago, today’s southern and northern magnetic poles were exactly the opposite. Although the magnetic poles shift, the Earth’s magnetic field continues to function properly. This is imperative for protecting all life on Earth, as a balanced magnetic field protects our planet from the magnetic effects of solar flares and solar winds.

Effects of polar shift

A new magnetic map of our planet is released every five years due to the fact that our magnetic poles are constantly shifting. This does not affect most people on a daily basis, however it does present a challenge for people and vehicles that rely on a compass. Due to the shift, a difference called “magnetic declination angle” occurs between the magnetic north pole and the geographic north pole. This angle varies according to the location. For example, in Canada the magnetic deflection angle is 13 degrees whereas in Brazil it is 20 degrees. In order to determine their exact location, military and civilian aircraft and ships manually or automatically calculate their location based on the angle of deviation and navigate accordingly. Even if we are not aware, our mobile phones are automatically updated according to this calibration. In physics, the formula known as Lenz’s Law, or a tool called a gaussmeter, can be used to calculate the Earth’s magnetic field.

Cryptochromes

This complex and intricate system affects most animal life on Earth, including birds, insects, and fruit flies. So, if these magnetic poles keep changing how do animals find their way? Most creatures utilize cryptochromes, a type of flavoprotein that affects their body clock.

Cryptochrome (CRY) [1] is found to play a leading role in this regard. Cryptochrome-2, one of the two cryptochrome photoreceptors, has been proven to be instrumental in regulating the daily life rhythm of beings by fine-tuning their body clocks and assisting certain animals such as migratory birds, king butterflies, and fruit flies to navigate their migratory paths accurately.

Years of research conducted by Steven Reppert and his team at the University of Massachusett’s School of Medicine on fruit flies and butterflies revealed the function of cryptochrome-2.

According to the research published in Nature magazine in 2009 [2], Dr. Reppert and his team found that flies could not adjust themselves to a new magnetic field without any form of cryptochrome, but that they could regain their sensitivity to a magnetic field only after cryptochrome-2 production.

During the study, the genetic structure of fruit flies was examined and it was ensured that they produced cryptochrome-2.

Speaking to the BBC, Dr. Reppert emphasized that they developed a system to understand how the perception of the magnetic field works in fruit flies. They sought the answer to the question, if cryptochrome-2 was to be transferred from animals to flies, can these proteins act like magnetic sensors in other forms? They have found out that human beings were the most effective option among all vertebrates to yield cryptochrome for this purpose. Their experiment with butterflies yielded the same results. They observed that flies without cryptochromes did not show any signs of magnetic field detection only until their genetic structure was intervened to produce a human version of the molecule.

In another experiment carried out by scientists, a group of migratory birds had iron nuggets, some of which were magnetized to scramble the Earth’s magnetic field, attached to their feet. It was observed that the birds with magnetized nuggets lost their migration path and the birds with unmagnetized nuggets could navigate as easily as usual.

Of course, birds could not know these exact calculations that many people do not even know. Pathfinding skills are “programmed” into birds before they are born so that even if the magnetic field shifts this wonderful mechanism in animals always delivers them to the right location.

The loggerhead sea turtles

As soon as they hatch on the east coast of Florida, the loggerhead sea turtles, Caretta Carettas, swim into Sargasso Sea, migrate into the North Atlantic Circle, and then subsequently into the Atlantic Ocean. The turtles first swim to the northeast towards Europe, then to the south, and return to North America after spending 5-10 years in this hot and nutrient-rich migratory loop.

Dr. Kenneth Lohmann and his team at the University of North Carolina wanted to observe whether loggerhead sea turtles used regional magnetic fields to find their migration paths. They set up a mechanism in a large water tank that was installed with coils in order to form multiple magnetic fields. 79 newly hatched turtles were then clad in cloth vests with wires connected to a computerized monitoring system and left in the same tank. Juvenile turtles were subjected to magnetic fields equivalent to those that exist at critical points of the North Atlantic Cycle, such as in the north of Florida, off the coast of Portugal, and at the southern end of the cycle. As a result, it was observed that in every magnetic field simulated in the experiment, the turtles begin to swim in the opposite direction. For instance, when the magnetic field in the northeastern part of the loop was applied, the animals headed south. In a real ocean setting, this direction keeps them on the right track and prevents them from entering icy waters and dying of hypothermia.

How do animals do it?

There are several research works documenting that not only birds, but also bats, ants, foxes, deer, and even cows feel magnetic fields.

Animals generally migrate to find more suitable reproductive, feeding and living areas for themselves. It is amazing how they know which way to go as soon as they are born. How do they decide that a place they’ve never been to is most suitable for them? How did they learn those navigational skills?

It is amazing to observe this intricate and interlinked system between the Sun, the Earth, and all the living things in it: while the rays of the Sun are needed for life, the harmful ones among them need to be shielded away from the Earth with a magnetic field, a field which is detected by a protein in animals so they can travel to places to continue their lives.

Human cryptochrome

Cryptochrome proteins are also present in the human body [3]. Cryptochrome-2 is especially functional and is linked more to adjusting biological rhythm rather than perceiving the Earth’s magnetic field.

Dr. Aziz Sancar, Chemistry professor and Nobel Prize winner, observed in his experiments of circadian clocks [4] that the cryptochrome pigment located in the eye, skin, and part of the brain regulated the circadian rhythm of mammals.

Currently, many theories are proposed and experiments are conducted on discovering the extent that human beings can perceive the Earth’s magnetic field.

Meanwhile, the wisdom behind the constant shift in the Earth’s magnetic pole awaits to be revealed.

Notes

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptochrome
2. Buchen, Lizzie. “Butterflies’ Migrational Timekeeper Found.” Nature, September 24, 2009.
3. Discovered between 1996 and 1998 in humans by Aziz Sancar and his colleagues, cryptochrome is one of the four genes that set the circadian clock in mice. This protein is also a member of a family of proteins including photolyase, DNA’s repair enzyme, on which Prof. Aziz Sancar has worked throughout his scientific career.
4. Rhythmic behavior and physiological changes that have a 24-hour cycle and regulate the day and night cycles of living beings. 

Further reading

Attenborough, David. 1998. The Life of Birds, Princeton University Press Princeton, New Jersey.

After a caterpillar undergoes metamorphosis, a mature Monarch butterfly lives for approximately six weeks under normal conditions. But as we will see, there is one exception to this rule.

These butterflies, with a wing span of 8-10 centimeters, live in Canada and the Northern USA and they migrate to South America during their migratory season. They increase their body weight by consuming flower nectar before starting the journey, to prepare for the 5000 km long route ahead of them. During this journey, they change direction many times because of rain storms and extreme weather, but they are never lost.

Towards the end of August, Monarch butterflies begin their journey from North America to the Oyamel forests in Mexico. They fly around 80 km a day, reaching speeds up to 20 km/hour. Though most generations only live for six weeks, these butterflies live for months. After an arduous journey of 8 to 10 weeks, they arrive at the 3000 meter high mountains in November and December. The Mexican mountains make an ideal place for these animals. Butterflies hibernate in this region for four months, from December to March, and survive on their fat reserves.

While this north to south journey is completed by one generation, the return journey takes four generations to complete. With the onset of spring, Monarch butterflies start feasting on honey nectar to get the energy to head back north. Around mid-March, they start to migrate northward, headed back to their birthplace. Meanwhile, having reached maturity, they reproduce. Each member of this generation lays around 700 eggs in suitable places between March and April, and then dies near mid May.

Female butterflies lay their eggs near the leaves of poisonous plants. Hatching larvae feed on these leaves. These neurotoxic plant leaves serve as a protection against predators. This poison is found to remain in the tissues of the insect even after it becomes a mature butterfly and is not harmful to it. The protection is necessary, for monarch butterflies have charming colors that attract many other animals. Thus some birds try to prey on them, only to fail each time. Because of the neurotoxin, these birds become stunned as soon as they touch their beaks to the butterfly.

It takes about a month for an egg to mature to an adult butterfly. Thus, the first generation comes to existence on the journey home. Like a programmed machine, this generation continues their parents’ journey north. They leave their eggs, for the second generation, during April and May, and then die in mid-June.

The second generation also continues the northward journey of their parents. They lay their eggs during May and June, and then die around mid-July.

Third generation Monarchs, however, arrive in Canada around June or July. The females of this generation lay their final eggs in mid-July and die during August. As a result, the fourth generation reaches maturity in a month, thus completing the annual tour. The fourth generation begins migrating south, towards the mountains of Mexico, at the end of the same month and hibernates there. This final generation lives six months more than the other generations, long enough to lay their eggs during spring. Without this character, the final generation Monarch butterflies would have died before spring, and would thus be unable to reach adulthood to lay eggs.

The migration to Mexico of a butterfly with such a delicate muscle structure confounded scientists for a long time. It is a fascinating, extraordinary event for millions of butterflies that, unlike migratory birds, lack a complicated nervous system. Yet despite this, they are able to pinpoint, and meet, in an area of around 1000 square kilometers.

An ultimate version of the global positioning (GPS) system as invented by the scientists is blessed as a birth-right to Monarch butterflies. Biologist Steven Reppert and his team from Massachusetts University have uncovered very interesting facts while studying butterfly antennae. When butterflies were placed in a flight simulator type of device with their antennae cut, they changed their direction after flying a while. Migrating butterflies with their antennae continued to move Southwest, however butterflies without their antennae flew in different directions. Not only did butterflies lose their navigational skills without their antennae but also had problems with their daily, time-dependent navigation.

Is it sufficient to explain this phenomenon by instinct only?

Pinar Celik has a PhD in medicine. She is a freelance writer from Turkey.

References

• Zhan S, Merlin C, Boore JL, Reppert SM. “The Monarch Butterfly Genome Yields Insights into Long-Distance Migration”. Cell 147 (5): 1171–85. 2011
• Davis, A.K. “Wing color of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) in eastern North America across life stages: migrants are ‘redder’ than breeding and overwintering stages”. Psyche: 1–5. 2009
• Merlin, C; Gegear, RJ; Reppert, SM. “Antennal circadian clocks coordinate sun compass orientation in migratory monarch butterflies”. Science 325 (5948): 1700–1704. 2009
• Kyriacou, CP. “Unraveling Traveling”. Science 325 (5948): 1629–1630. 2009

In the northern hemisphere, where annual average rainfall is around 100 kg per square meter in cold and dry regions, boreal forests, with needle-leaf trees, dominate. The southern hemisphere is dominated by savanna; bushes and meadows occupy millions of hectares.. In these regions, natural fires can be the most important factor of ecosystem changes. When looking at the results of these fires, it sometimes seems they were preprogrammed as to when, where, and how they spread.

Examples of fire dependent ecosystems

The cone of the Jack Pine species (Pinus banksiana), which is widely distributed throughout North American forests, requires absolute forest fire in order to release its seeds. The cone of this species can remain on the trees without releasing seeds for years because of climate and the resin layer covering it. Seeds preserved in the cones wait for the next fire; the cone’s scales open with the heat generated during such a fire. The seeds then start their journey towards a piece of soil that they can grow into. Here the role of fire is very important, not only for the dispersal of seeds but also in preparation of germination. The high humidity and low temperatures in the forests of these regions delays the decomposition of fallen leaves. This layer of dead material over the mineral soil is another hindrance for seeds to meet the soil. When scales of the cones open with the help of forest fire, this thick layer of dead leaves is also removed, having burned down to create fertile new soil.

Another example of fire benefiting plants is the chaparral vegetation of the North American forest. This type of plant cover is composed of short, perennial wooden plants and annual non-woody plants. During the hot, dry weather of summer, this vegetative cover becomes particularly vulnerable to fire. A dark black cover composed of unburned parts, frames, and ashes of the plants is left behind. This sight, which is saddening at first, actually hides various beauties in it, and these beauties only emerge after a series of events.

Golden eardrops (Dicentra chrysantha), which is a member of the perennial Chaparral family, is deeply affected by fire. The seed of this plant requires a fire event in the germination season and should be exposed to smoke for at least 10 minutes.

The positive effects of forest fires can also be seen in the healthy survival of an ecosystem. Due to its thick bark, the widely distributed Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), of North America, is minimally affected by the low, medium level cover fires that happen every five to twenty years. The weak and unhealthy individuals in this dense forest get burned as a result of natural forest fires, leaving healthy, thick barked trees. This way, possible epidemics of harmful forest organisms, via these unhealthy trees, is prevented. In the meantime, due to periodic fires, dead cover, or fallen and dead trees are removed, thus preventing bigger fires.

In the eastern Mediterranean, brutia pine, yellow pine, black pine, aleppo pine, and stone pine can are widely distributed. Among these, brutia pine is spread across a wide area, especially in most fire sensitive regions. It is created with a thicker bark around the trunk compared to other pines. This species can be minimally impacted from low and medium level cover fires. On the other hand, seeds in the cones of brutia pine are thrown far away by the heat of the fire, reaching fertile germinating grounds, thus helping to spread the forest.

References

• Fuller, M. 1991. Forest Fires: An Introduction to Wildland Fire Behavior, Management, Firefighting, and Prevention, SD421.F84, Wiley & Sons, Inc., NY, pp. 238.
• Keeley, J. E. 2007. “Chaparral and Fire,” Fremontia, Volume 35:4, pp. 16-21.
• Bond, W. J., Wilgen, B.W. 1996. Fire and Plants, SE18HN, UK, Chapman & Hall, UK, pp. 259.

Let us imagine the earth as a small sphere before us. If we throw an object from the North Pole toward point A on the equator line, the object follows a curved line towards the right side and reaches point B, not point A. Likewise, an object thrown from the South Pole towards the same point A will follow a similar line curved in the opposite direction. These cases have a common point. An object rolling on a rotating ground moves on a curved line. This curved line, instead of a straight one, is explained with reference to the force of acceleration. This force is named after the French engineer, Coriolis who explained it in 1835. If this force-which is generated by the earth rotating around its own axis-did not exist, then air movements and ocean currents, and consequently the climate conditions of our world, would be different than they are. The objects in our example, thrown from the two poles, go in different directions, because the world rotates counter-clockwise when looked from the North Pole, and clockwise from the South Pole.

The air over the equator receives the sun’s rays at a broad angle. It rises up after gaining heat and is replaced by colder air coming from distant latitudes. Air convection begins in connection with these heat changes. So if the world did not rotate, the air on the Poles would get heavier with cold air and come down. Then, it would be replaced by hot air from lower latitudes. The air at the equator would rise up with gaining heat and would move until reaching the Poles where it would come down after losing heat. Then, it would return to the equator, this time very close to the ground. In this case, the world would probably be an uninhabitable place with cold and fierce winds blowing all around. And of course, the side facing the sun would be very hot and the other side would be very cold.

Instead, the Coriolis effect makes these great atmospheric air masses move over our rotating earth. The hot air rising up from the equator moves towards the poles with a curved course thanks to the Coriolis effect (Figure 4). As this air current approaches the latitudes around 30 degrees, it loses heat and descends. A part of the descending air begins to move back toward the equator, but it follows a curved line again owing to the Coriolis effect. So this last curving forms the “trade winds.” In the past, sailing ships traveled from Europe to America for the purpose of trade; thus, these winds were named as trade winds. This air circulation between the equator and the 30-degree meridians is known as Hadley circulation. These air currents cause heavy rainfall in the equatorial region and the consequent formation of rain forests, which are considered as the lungs of our planet, and also they cause the formation of deserts around the region where the dry and hot weather are pure blessings for us. They are a blessing because the airborne dust rising from the desert fertilizes the rainclouds and plays a critical role for rainfall.

The air over the poles becomes cold, and it causes another air current as it becomes heavier and starts to descend. As the lowered air moves toward the equator, it changes course with the Coriolis effect. At the same time it begins to gain heat and ascend. At the latitudes where water ascends by gaining heat, a rain climate prevails. This polar air cycle is seen between latitudes of 60-90 degrees.

Some part of the air current, which descends down around 30 degrees of latitude, moves toward the poles at a low level. Also, some part of the air which comes from the poles and ascends begins to move towards the equator. So a third air cycling begins between the altitudes between 30-60 degrees. The “western winds” are brought forth from this third cycle. During the time of sailing ships, these winds were used to traveling from America to Europe (Figure 4).

In order for these air cycles to happen, the earth’s rotation around its own axis is not sufficient; its speed and atmospheric mass also play an important role. If the earth rotated slower, the Coriolis Effect would be too weak to give way to a triple air cycle. For example, since Venus rotates too slowly, there is only a single air cycle in its atmosphere. Another factor, as we mentioned, is the mass of the atmosphere. Since the atmosphere of Mars is thin and its mass is relatively less, the Coriolis Effect is too weak and there is only a single air cycle.

Coriolis Effect prevents the air current from following a straight course and the isobars form twisters as they proceed. Therefore, hurricanes in the Northern hemisphere move counter-clockwise, and those in the south move clockwise (Figure 5). Naturally, these main atmospheric movements are not the only ones. A region’s climate is dependent on several factors such as landscape, night-day heat differences, and the like. Therefore, the climatic conditions on the earth have a very complex structure. Even when we consider just these few factors discussed here, it is evident that there are countless parameters that make human life possible in our planet, and each one is finely adjusted. Even slight changes in rotation and the mass of the atmosphere would result in a dramatically different planet Earth.

The ocean currents

Movement of air masses affects the water on the ocean surface as well. Thus, wind-generated surface currents are born. These currents are parallel with the relevant winds. It is a well-known fact that these huge bodies of water change the climate of the regions they pass. Therefore, two places at 54 degrees of latitude show a surprising difference: there can be a polar bears’ park in Ontario, whereas palm trees and tropical fruits can grow in Belfast thanks to the Gulf Stream. There are other warm ocean currents that pass from Brazil, and the north and south of the equator. Some of major cold surface currents pass from Labrador, Canada, the Falkland Islands, and Peru. Warm currents soften the climate of the regions they pass, while cold currents provide sea creatures with rich food, and they are important areas of fishing.

The impact of the wind on ocean water normally reaches as deep as 100-200 meters, and even 1,000 meters in some cases. The Coriolis effect has a determining role on the direction of the currents. These currents on the move make a turn when their way is blocked by land. Thus, the succession of ocean currents becomes a cycle, and they form the great current cycles named as “gyre.” They turn clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counter-clockwise in the south.

There are five main ocean circulations on earth and each of them consists of four streams. These currents are at the north and south of the Atlantic Ocean, the north and south of the Pacific Ocean, and one in the Indian Ocean. The North Atlantic circulation is made up of the Northern Equator Current, the Gulf Stream, North Atlantic Current, and the Canary Current.

With the Coriolis effect, a blessing of wondrous scale, food chains are brought to life in the ocean and around coastal regions. The ocean waters are set in motion by the winds generated by the Coriolis effect, but they do not strictly follow the winds that activated them. With a deflection of nearly 45 degrees they move right in the Northern Hemisphere and to left in the Southern Hemisphere.

The effect of the winds weakens in the deeper ocean waters, and then the Coriolis effect becomes dominant. Thus the direction of ocean water carried in the Northern Hemisphere is vertical to the wind direction and towards the right. This condition causes ocean waters to be pushed towards the circulatory center, and the water level there rises about 2 meters.

As rising waters move down with the effect of gravity, the Coriolis effect comes to the stage again to give way to another current in the same direction within that current. The waters that were rising toward the center begin to sink, and they form a new vertical current. For the same reason, the separation of the water current to the right and left directions around the equatorial regions gives way to the waters at the bottom which then come to the surface. At these places, the water level decreases a little. This “upwelling” phenomenon has very important results. Dead organisms sinking down are broken down by bacteria in the deep waters. When this nutrient-rich water returns to the surface, it is a great blessing for so many sea creatures. It is a striking fact that the rotating of the earth is a means for providing many living beings with sustenance. All of these finely adjusted balances on our planet, which we mostly take for granted, provide reflecting minds with food for thought.

In the early 1970s, a young graduate student, Richard Blakemore, observed an interesting group of bacteria in a mud sample collected from Eel Pond in Massachusetts. These bacteria were migrating through a certain edge of the microscope slide. Rotating the slide did not affect their motion; they were still moving through north. Repeating the experiment in the dark also showed that it was not light that affected the bacteria’s swimming direction. The experiments left one possible explanation to the directed motion of the bacteria and that was a crazy one-that they were sensing the magnetic field of the earth! It wasn’t hard for Blakemore to place a magnet next to the microscope slide and to prove that the crazy idea was indeed true. The bacteria were attracted by the south pole of the magnet and repelled by the north pole of it. This was the beginning of a new field of an interdisciplinary research, which attracted many scientists from very different fields such as, microbiology, physics, geophysics and paleogeology.

To understand how magnetotactic bacteria feel the magnetic field, it would be useful to check one’s transmission electron micrograph (Figure 1). The chain of magnetite (iron oxide) crystals forming a specialized organelle, called magnetesome, can be seen easily. The length of the whole chain is around one micron and each small crystal is around 50-60 nanometers. Each small crystal can be considered as a small magnet. These small magnets are aligned in a way that they support each other and the chain becomes a strong magnet. A lipid bilayer membrane surrounds this chain and holds them together. Forming chains on a straight line is not an expected behavior for small magnetite crystals. If they are produced synthetically, they accumulate together to form an aggregate. The pathways of chain formation in magnetesome are still an open question.

Magnetotactic properties are not limited to a certain species. There are many different bacteria that have magnetotactic properties. Therefore the magnetesomes may differ in size, length and even in chemistry. Some magnetotactic bacteria have greigite (iron sulfide) minerals instead of magnetite. Alsothere are magnetotactic bacteria that have more than one magnetesomes. (Figure –2)

Magnetesomes passively align bacteria parallel to the geomagnetic field but do not exert a force on bacteria to change their speed. Aligned with the magnetic field, the bacteria decide to either move towards south or north. Interestingly, almost all magnetotactic bacteria in northern hemisphere are north seeking, almost all magnetotactic bacteria in southern hemisphere are south seeking, and magnetotactic bacteria living around the geomagnetic equator consist of almost equal number of bacteria of each magnetic polarity. The bacteria in northern and southern hemispheres may have different polarities but they have one thing in common; they both move downwards. The geomagnetic field is not exactly parallel to the earth’s surface except around the geomagnetic equator. As it may seem in figure-3, the magnetic field lines are tilted up and down respectively in southern and northern hemispheres. Therefore the north seeking bacteria in northern hemisphere end up at the bottom of the water and so do the south seeking bacteria in southern hemisphere. Most of the magnetotactic bacteria cannot survive in atmospheric oxygen levels, so sensing vertical position and moving downwards, where oxygen concentration is low, is crucial for them.

Being north seeking or down seeking, i.e. polarity, is a genetic property for magnetotactic bacteria. Almost all progenies (descendants) of a north-seeking cell are also north-seeking cells. However this requires partition of magnetesomes to each daughter cell during the division. Occasionally, daughter cells may have no magnetesomes or they maybe too small to have a magnetic moment, so they develop their own magnetesomes. When these progenies develop their own magnetesomes they may have either polarity. Therefore any natural population of magnetotactic bacteria has less than 0.5% “wrong” polarity members. Wrong is written in quotation marks because without that “mistake” magnetotactic bacteria would live only in one hemisphere of the earth.

Magnetotactic bacteria are not the only creatures that can sense geomagnetic field. For example birds, also, can sense geomagnetic field and find their direction while they are migrating. However, birds use other factors such as sun and the horizon to find their direction and their body is much more complex. Also they do not sense magnetic field in a mechanical way like magnetotactic bacteria do, but probably they have some complex chemical ways of magnetic reception. That is another research field by itself and this article’s volume is not enough to go into it.

Everything, every entity that we see around us calls us to reflect upon their Creator. The ones that we see with electron microscopes or high-tech tools are not exceptions. Magnetotactic bacteria synthesizes magnetite crystals from scratch and then puts them in an order like beads hitched on a string. Could it be possible for them to manage this incredible task on their own accord and without acting in the name of God? To this day we cannot even understand the basic principles of that process to its complete degree in order to mimic it. In fact, the more we understand the more we esteem and at awe we become from the great craft of Supreme Artist.

Auroras (northern lights), with their beautiful colors, make long winter nights more bearable in Arctic Circle. They are emitted by charged particles, something very harmful for living creatures if ever reached to earth’s surface and trapped in earth’s geomagnetic field. (Figure-4) While thinking about magnetotactic bacteria I remember those beautiful scenes I had seen in pictures that had caught my awe and wonder and can’t help but express deep gratitude once more to the Creator and Sustainer of it all, of us all, who guides the tiny little cells to more livable environments with the very same geomagnetic field that He protects us from harmful solar winds. Extraordinary is the ordinaries we are surrounded by!

Ahmet Uysal is a PhD candidate in Physics at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.

References

1. Richard P. Blakemore, 1982, “Magnetotactic bacteria”. Ann. Rev. Micrbiol. 36:217-238
2. Dirk Schüler, 2008, “Genetics and cell biology of magnetesome formation in magnetotactic bacteria”. FEMS Microbiol. Rev., 32:654-672
3. Arash Komeili, 2007, “Molecular mechanisms of magnetesome formation”. Annu. Rev. Biochem. 76:351-366
4. Thorsten Ritz, Salih Adem, and Klaus Schulten, 2000, “A model for photoreceptor-based magnetoreception in birds”. Biophysical Journal. 78:707-718
5. http://www.birdgeo.com/images/CTE1810.jpg
6. http://solar-center.stanford.edu/images/solar-wind-magfield_b.gif

Did the Companions of the Prophet go to America?

Research conducted in the West during the twentieth century has proven the existence of Muslims on the American mainland approximately seven centuries before Christopher Columbus. Similarly, archeological excavations, linguistic, and philological analyses of languages and settlement names in the region, the fact that coins, household tools and other utensils were discovered there that were similar to those of the Abbasids in the eighth and ninth centuries are all justifications of the theory that Muslims, beginning from 650 CE, made their way to the continent for settlement, during which time they erected mosques and schools, leaving a prolonged impact on the natives, i.e. American Indians.

The Islamic sources carry no information as regards Muslim settlement in America, although research undertaken by Professor Barry Fell of Harvard University confirms that Muslims reached the continent at the time of Uthman, the third Caliph, concomitantly indicating the significant possibility that some of the Companions could have arrived there as well.

Many Western researchers acknowledge the famous map of Piri Reis as proof of Muslim presence in America long before the endeavors of Columbus, as it minutely comprises the map of America, as well as extremely accurate measurements of the distance between America and Africa.

According to Salvatore Michael Trento, former director of the Center for Archeological Research in Middletown, New York, before embarking on his first voyage to America, Columbus had read the book of Roger Bacon of Oxford University, which comprised information, compiled from a variety of Arabic resources, about geographical regions on the other side of the Atlantic; hence Columbus’ previous knowledge of the islands in the Atlantic Ocean and other places.1

Proofs in Western sources

1. Professor Barry Fell, retired lecturer from Harvard University and also a member of the American Academy of Science and Arts, the Royal Society, the Epigraphy Society and the Society of Scientific and Archeological Discoveries, is adamant about the arrival of Islam in America in the 650s,2 predicating this argument upon the Cufic calligraphy belonging to that era found in various diggings across America. If the words of Professor Fell have truth-value, then the Muslims had arrived in America during the era of Uthman, or at least that of Ali, the fourth caliph. Such information, however, is not found in Muslim sources.

Professor Fell again uses the results of various archeological diggings undertaken across many regions in the states of Colorado, New Mexico, and Indiana to assert the construction of Muslim schools during 700-800 CE. Writings, drawings, and charts inscribed on rocks discovered in the most remote and untainted terrains of Western America are relics bestowed by the elementary and intermediate systems of Muslim education at the time. These documents were written in the old Cufic letters of North African Arabic, covering subjects such as reading, writing, arithmetic, religion, history, geography, mathematics, astronomy, and navigation. The descendants of these settlers are thought to be the current native tribes of Iroquois, Algonquin, Anasazi, Hohokam, and Olmec.

2. The second evidence offered by Professor Fell is that the inscription of “In the Name of God” (picture 1), found on a rock during archeological work in Nevada, belongs to the seventh century, when the haraka sign system had not yet been developed. Likewise, the stone bearing the inscription “Muhammad is the Prophet of God” (picture 2) is pertinent to the same era. As seen by comparison of the two pictures, the inscriptions are not in the style of Modern Arabic; conversely they are in a Cufic style relevant to the seventh century.3

The Arabs, according to the findings of Professor Fell, settled in Nevada during the seventh and eighth centuries. The earlier existence of a school, which taught Islam and science, particularly navigation, has come to light following the archeological investigation undertaken by Professors Heizer and Baumhoff of California University around site WA 25 in Nevada. The excavations in Nevada have uncovered writings in Naskhi Arabic and Cufic style that are inscribed on rocks which carry information about this school (picture 3). The application of the mathematical formula “five diamonds equal an alif” (alif is the first letter of Arabic alphabet) may be seen in this picture (pictures 3b and 3c). The Arabic letters in pictures 3b and 3c, found amid excavations in Nevada, are in exactly the same style as North African Arabic. Again similarly, another rock was found in Nevada bearing the name “God”, the style of which is yet again reminiscent of the prevalent technique of seventh and eighth-century North Africa. The calligraphical similarities between various writing styles of the Prophet’s name over diverse periods, particularly those relating to Africa and America, found during archeological investigations are striking indeed. Figure A of picture 4 was found in al-Ain Lahag, Morocco and figure B in East Walker River; both are currently at the University of California. Figure C was discovered in Nevada and figures C and D were located in Churchill County and are also currently preserved at the University of California; likewise figure F was discovered in al-Haji Minoun, Morocco, while figure G, inscribed on ceramic, was revealed in al-Suk, Tripoli, Libya and figure H, at the University of California, was discovered at Cottonwood Canyon, while finally figure I was located on the border of Morocco and Libya. All these inscriptions belong to the eighth and ninth centuries, clearly illustrating the resemblance in style between North America and North Africa, as well as overtly suggesting a migration that occurred from Africa to America.

3. In the twelfth century the Athapcan Tribe, comprised of native Apaches and Navajos, raided the area inhabited by the Arabs, who either ended up fleeing or were exiled toward the South. These illiterate natives were spellbound by the schools founded by the Arabs, and, perhaps with the assistance of captives, attempted to imitate the same subjects, transforming the geometrical shapes into mythical beasts, which carried on for centuries.

4. Picture 5 is the Cufic writing found in 1951 in the White Mountains, close to the town of Benton on the border of Nevada. The words Shaytan maha mayan, i.e. the Devil is the source of all lies, have been written in a Cufic style peculiar to the seventh century.

5. Once more, a rock inscription belonging to post-650 CE, bearing the Cufic letters H-M-I-D of the word Hamid (picture 6), is another Arabic script discovered on the Atlata rocks in the Valley of Fire in Nevada.

6. While traveling from Malden to Cambridge in the state of Massachusetts in 1787 (on what is now RT. 16), the Reverend Thaddeus Mason Harris noticed some coins discovered by workers during road construction. The workers, not putting much value on these coins, presented him with a handful. Consequently, Harris decided to send these coins to the library of Harvard College for examination (picture 7). The study yielded that these were in fact Samarqand dirhams from the eighth and ninth centuries. As can be seen in the picture, the coins manifestly display the inscriptions La ilaha ill-Allah Muhammadun Rasulullah (There is no deity but God, and Muhammad is His Messenger) and Bismillah (in the name of God).

7. Picture 8 shows a piece of rock discovered in a cave in the region of Corinto in El Salvador, bearing the inscription Malaka Haji mi Malaya; this has been identified as belonging to the thirteenth century, suggesting a possible arrival of Muslims in South America, perhaps coming from somewhere near Indonesia.

7. During his second voyage, Columbus was told by the natives of Espanola (Haiti) of black men who had appeared on the island before him and they showed him the lances that had been left there by these Africans to support their assertions. The tips of the lances were of a metal, an alloy of gold, which they called guanin, a word which is semantically remarkably similar to the Arabic word ghina, meaning richness. Columbus had in fact brought some of this guanin back to Spain, recording that it was composed of 56.25% gold, 18.75% silver and 25% copper, ratios that were prevalent in African Guinea as standards for the processing of metals.

8. On his third voyage to the New World, Columbus visited Trinidad, where the sailors noticed the symmetrically patterned cotton and colorful handkerchiefs of the natives. Afterward, Columbus realized that the handkerchiefs, which the natives called almayzar, were all much the same in color, style, and use as the headscarves and waist bands used in Guinea. The word almayzar is Arabic, and denotes a cover, tie, apron, or skirt, and is a component of the regional costumes of the Moors, Arabs and, Berbers of North Africa, who had conquered Spain in the eighth century. Columbus observed that the local women wore cotton garments and wrote in astonishment that they had learned of the concept namus, i.e. chastity. In much the same vein, Hernan Cortes, another Spanish explorer, later recorded that the clothing of local women consisted of long veils and skirts decorated with ornaments that were similar to those of the Moors. Ferdinand, Columbus’ son, was also quick to notice the resemblance between the cotton dresses of the natives and the ornamented shawls fashioned by Moorish women in Granada. The cradles used by the natives, furthermore, very closely resembled those of North Africa.

9. Columbus recorded on 21 October 1492 that he had noticed a mosque on top of a mountain while sailing around Cibara on the northeast coast of Cuba. Relics of mosques carrying Qur’anic inscriptions on their minarets have been found in Cuba, Mexico, Texas, and Nevada since these times.

10. Leo Weiner, a well-known Harvard historian and linguist, stated in his book The Discovery of Africa and America, written in 1920, that Columbus was aware of the existence of Mandinka, an ethnic group of West Africa, in the New World. The same book also affirms that Columbus was aware that West African Muslims were living across North America, including the south, middle regions and Canada, as well as in the Caribbean, and that they had marital and commercial ties with the native tribes of Iroque and Algonquin.

11. A preponderance of the voyages embarked upon by Columbus and other Spanish and Portuguese explorers toward the other side of the Atlantic were undertaken only in the light of the geographical and navigational knowledge prepared by Muslims. Al-Masudi’s (871-957 CE) work Muruj’uz-Zahab, for instance, was written with this sort of data compiled by Muslim traders from across Africa and Asia. Two of Columbus’ captains on the first voyage, in actual fact, were Muslims: Martin Alonso Pinzon was in charge of the Pinta, while his brother Vicente Yanez Pinzon was the designated captain of Nina; both were from the Moroccan Marinid dynasty, descendants of Sultan Abu Zayan Muhammad III (r. 1362-1366). Formerly well-to-do ship riggers, they assisted Columbus in organizing his voyage of exploration, preparing the Santa Maria, the flagship, and covering all its expenses.

12. Christopher Columbus has recorded the custom of nose piercing, which used to be and still popular in the Middle Eastern and Arab countries, as being prevalent in some islands across the Atlantic also mentions the writing of letters in Arabic.

13. In the account of sixteenth century missionaries in America, the local copper mines, found particularly in Virginia, Tennessee, and Wisconsin were not operated by the natives, but instead by people from the Middle East, towards whom the natives nurtured a profound sympathy.

14. A sum of 565 names, 484 in America and 81 in Canada, of villages, towns, cities, mountains, lakes, rivers and etcetera, are etymologically Arabic, designated by locals long before the arrival of Columbus. Many of these names are in fact the same as names of Islamic places; Mecca in Indiana, Medina in Idaho, Medina in New York, Medina and Hazen in North Dakota, Medina in Ohio, Medina in Tennessee, Medina in Texas, Medina and Arva in Ontario, Mahomet in Illinois and Mona in Utah, are just a few noticeable names at the outset. A closer analysis of the names of native tribes will immediately reveal their Arabic etymological ancestry; Anasazi, Apache, Arawak, Arikana, Chavin, Cherokee, Cree, Hohokam, Hupa, Hopi, Makkah, Mohician, Mohawk, Nazca, Zulu, and Zuni are only a few.

House and building Structures

Archeological excavations conducted throughout North America and North Africa reveal a corresponding architectural resemblance between ninth century buildings. The structure of a Berber house of the Atlas Mountains, Morocco (picture 9), for instance, is exactly the same as that of a house in New Mexico (picture 10). The same similarity can be traced between the Castle of Montezuma discovered in Arizona and the remnants found in Mesa Verde in Colorado and the general structure of Berber buildings (picture 11-12).

The research undertaken by Professor Cyrus Thomas of the Smithsonian Institute shows that a small cabin built from piles of rock found in Ellenville, New York is virtually the same as the cabin, again of rock, found around Aqabah, Southern Arabia, both of which are thought to have been built around the start of the eighth century (picture 13).

Arabic words prevalent among natives prior to the arrival of Europeans

The pervasiveness of many Islamic words across the continent prior to European influx is verified by the following terms discovered in the regions currently known as New England and Nova Scotia, in America and Canada respectively. Fell pointed to some words as example of Arabic influence on Native Americans. All of the words listed below are derived from the Arabic language. However, time had eroded their original meanings and most are not used in Arabic today.

The last Muslim stronghold in Spain, Granada, fell just before the Spanish Inquisition was established in 1492. Non-Christians were forced to either convert to Catholicism to save themselves from the tyranny of the Inquisition or were exiled from the country. Documents exist which prove the existence of immigrant Muslims in Spanish America before 1550. In 1539 an edict from Spanish King Charles V was put into practice which forbade the immigration of Muslims to settlements in the West. This edict was later expanded to expel all Muslims from overseas Spanish colonies in 1543. The existence of Muslims in overseas islands and regions was known along with the fact that the Spanish king issued such an edict. Again, in many Islamic sources, it is noted that Muslims living in Spain and North Africa made overseas voyages during the Andalusia period. Scientific research on this subject will bring out many documents into the daylight, documents which have escaped the notice of both Muslims in America and those throughout the world, which will perhaps serve, in the future if not immediately, as a starting point for a re-evaluation of the history of America.

Notes

1. Trento, Salvatore Michael. The Search for Lost America, p.15 Penguin Books, New York: 1978.

2. Fell, Dr. Barry. Saga America, p. 190, Time Books, New York: 1980.

3. ibid. p. xiv.

4. ibid. pp. 332-333.

5. ibid. pp. 333-334.

6 ibid. p. 182.

7. ibid. p. 243.

8. ibid. p. 26.

6. ibid. p. 276.

7. Teacher, John Boyd. Christopher Columbus, p. 380, New York: 1950.

8. Columbus, Ferdinand. The Life of Admiral Christopher Columbus, p. 232 Rutgers Uni. Press, 1959.

9. Obregon, Mauricio. The Columbus Papers, The Barcelona Letter of 1493.

10. The Landfall Controversy, and the Indian Guides, McMillan Co., New York: 1991.

11. Weiner, Dr. Leo. Africa and the Discovery of America, Vol.2 p. 365-366 Philadelphia: 1920.

12. Obregon, 1493.

13. Trento, 1978, p. 23.

14. ibid. p. 29.

15. ibid. p. 65.

16. Fell, 1980. 250-252.

17. Trento, 1978, p. 15.

18. Fell, 1980. p. 400-403.

Ancient people, considering it very important to determine Earth’shape, derived two important clues from the night skies. According to Aristotle (384-322 bce), these were lunar eclipses and the North Star. Lunar eclipses occur when the sun, Earth, and the moon line up in such a way that Earth temporarily blocks the sun’s light from reaching the moon while its circular shadow gradually crosses the moon’s face. The North Star appears lower in the sky the further south we go: at the Equator it lies directly on the horizon, at a latitude of 45 it is 45 above the horizon; and at the North Pole it is directly overhead. However, it is not visible south of the Equator.(1) As both of these indicate a spherical Earth, the scholars of that time discarded the idea of a flat Earth.

The more challenging question was how to determine Earth’s size. Eratosthenes of Alexandria (third century bce) had a simple yet brilliant idea: insert a gnomon (a vertical stick) into a level piece of ground. This enabled him to determine noon’s exact time (when the shadow was the shortest). It was also used as a compass, for in the Northern Hemisphere the gnomon’s shadow points north.

But can such a simple device determine Earth’s size? Aswan, located about 500 miles south of Alexandria, sits on the Tropic of Cancer. So, at noon of June 21 (the summer solstice), a gnomon inserted there has no shadow. By doing just that in Alexandria, Eratosthenes found that the angle was 1/50 of a circle’s circumference (i.e., 2p/50). In other words, the angle at Earth’s center corresponding to the arc between Aswan and Alexandria on Earth’s surface is 1/50 of a circle’s circumference. Since the distance between Alexandria and Aswan is 500 miles, Earth’s circumference should be 25,000 miles, which is its actual circumference.(2) Thus, Earth’s size and shape was pretty well established over 2,000 years ago.

This knowledge was lost to Europe when the ancient civilizations crumbled. But Islamic civilization and culture, which was rising at roughly the same time as the West was declining, produced scholars and scientists who translated and refined quite a bit of this ancient knowledge. For example, in 1424 al-Kashi used Archimedes’ method of computing to determine its values to 16 decimal places. Ulug Beg compiled the greatest star catalog known at that time. During al-Ma’mun reign (813-833), al-Khwarizmi measured one degree of latitude on Earth’s surface and obtained the result of 57 miles. This means that Earth’s circumference is 360×57 = 20,520 miles.(3) Thus, in the ninth century, Muslim scientists knew that Earth was spherical and had a good idea of its size. Most Europeans at that time, believed that Earth was flat and the universe impenetrable.

The Qur’an describes Earth’s geographical shape and change in that shape: Do they not see how We gradually shrink the land from its outlying borders? Is it then they who will be victors? (21:44).(4) The reference to shrinking could relate to the now-known fact that Earth is compressed at the poles.

At a time when people generally believed that Earth was flat and stationary, the Qur’an explicitly and implicitly revealed that it is round. More unexpectedly still, it also says that its precise shape is more like an ostrich egg than a sphere: After than He shaped Earth like an egg, whence He caused to spring forth the water thereof, and the pasture thereof (79: 30-32).

The verb daha’ means “to shape like an egg,” and its derived noun da’hia is still used to mean “an egg.” As this may have appeared incorrect to pre-modern scientists, some interpreters misunderstood the word’s meaning as “stretched out,” perhaps fearing that its literal meaning would only confuse people. Modern scientific instruments recently established that Earth is shaped more like an egg than a perfect sphere, and that there is a slight flattening around the poles and a slight curving around the Equator.

The West receives “lost” knowledge

An enduring Western myth is that Columbus had to overcome a pervasive belief that he would sail off the edge of a flat Earth by sailing west to Asia. This myth stems in part from compressing the past and conflating the early Middle Ages, when Europe’s belief in a flat Earth was widespread, with the late Middle Ages, when Europe’s knowledge had caught up with and partially surpassed that of ancient Greece and medieval Islam.

During the Renaissance, Europe came into contact with “lost” knowledge by translating Greek and Arabic works. One important book was Ptolemy’s Geography, which accepts Earth’s spherical shape. Geography once more became available in the original Greek, which was not widely known in the thirteenth century. This book was translated into Latin in the late fifteenth century and became widely known. Columbus owned a copy printed in 1479.

By the time of Columbus, the idea of a spherical Earth was widely accepted in theory. Columbus believed this and wanted to sail west to the eastern shores of Asia. Earth’s size was the real issue. Ptolemy’s estimate was as much as 20% too low. Also, he vastly overestimated Asia’s size. The resulting map depicted an Earth with oceans between Europe’s western tip and Asia’s eastern tip, which was well within range of the provisions that ships of that time could carry. Columbus’ estimate of the distance to Asia was wrong, as was his assumption that there was no land between Europe and Asia. Fortunately for him, these two “wrongs” made a “right,” with all of its attendant fame and glory.

The Shape of the Universe

So far, we have given external information (i.e., lunar eclipses and the North Star) about Earth’s spherical shape based upon its position in the universe. If we use this method to determine the universe’s shape, we must observe it in an external manner. As this is not possible, let’s reconsider the question of Earth’s shape with a slight change: Can we determine Earth’s shape by using measurements and observations done only on its surface, and thereby acquire intrinsic information that can inform us of the universe’s shape?

Karl Gauss (1777-1855) answered this question positively by inventing “curvature,” which measures a given surface’s “bumpiness” at a specific point. A flat piece of paper has no bumps and so its curvature is zero. But if we look at a sphere at each point, we see some bumpiness. Gauss called such bumpiness “positive curvature.” Another kind of bumpiness is “saddle-shaped.” We can think of positive curvature at a point as follows: If we put a piece of flat paper on a surface at that point, the surface lies totally on one side of the paper. But in negatively curved space, this cannot happen.

To describe this concept formally (minus some technicalities), assume constant curvatures on the shapes in question. In other words, the shape is totally symmetric and every point has the same amount of bumpiness. There are several ways to describe curvature. Gauss’s formulation for curvature is brilliant. But before that, let’s look at his intrinsic proof for a spherical Earth. Imagine an orchard so large that any deviation from flatness is perceptible. First plant trees on the Equator every 100 kms (the approximate distance between two meridians on the Equator). Then plant another tree 100 kms (the approximate distance between two parallels) north of each tree, and do this several times. If Earth is flat, the distance between them would be same. But since the distance between the two consecutive trees (on the same parallel) decreases, Earth is spherical.

Having seen that an intuitively positive curvature implies a spherical shape, we want to follow this method to get an idea about the universe’s shape. Georg Riemann (1826-66), trying to do just that, invented “curved space” and explained how to compute its curvature. We could launch six probes at equally spaced points along the Equator, and have each of them continually monitor the distance to the two adjacent probes. If space is flat, the distances at any point in its journey would equal the distance from the probe to Earth’s center (an equilateral triangle). For negative curvature, the distance between probes would grow faster than the distance the probe had traveled from Earth; in positively curved space, the distance between probes would grow slower than the distance covered by the probes since leaving Earth.

There are two common misconceptions about the curvature of space. The first one is that curvature is a rather vague or qualitative concept. In reality, it is quite precise and assigns to each point in space and each direction at that point an exact number determined by the shape of the space near the specific location. The second one is that to describe curved space, one must think of it as “curving” into a fourth dimension. This can be useful in visualizing curved space for people familiar with four-dimensional Euclidean space (four-dimensional coordinate space). Unfortunately, science popularizers and science fiction writers often lace this concept with mystical overtones. This is more likely to confuse average people. In other words, measurements made in ordinary three-dimensional space may disagree with the results embodied in Euclidean geometry, for curvature measures the degree and kind of deviation from the Euclidean model.

Riemann also proposed a radically different (non-Euclidian) model for the universe: “spherical space.” This would be the case if space had a constant positive curvature. Based on this, he said that the universe should be a hypersphere (a three-dimensional sphere). The usual sphere is two-dimensional and lives in three-dimensional Euclidean space. In general, n-dimensional sphere is described as in the (n+1)-dimensional Euclidean space, and the set of points whose distance from origin (the point 0) is 1.

The more intuitive way to describe hypersphere comes from the usual sphere. Starting from a point in the sphere called the South Pole, and as we go in a direction in the sphere, we see concentric circles becoming larger until we reach the Equator, after which they become smaller and we finally reach North Pole. The situation is similar in hypersphere. Start from a point in the sphere called the South Pole, and as we go in a direction in the sphere, the concentric “spheres” become larger until we reach the Equator, after which they become smaller until we reach the North Pole. We can generalize this concept for any sphere of any dimension.

Earlier philosophers speculated that the universe was infinite in extent; others (e.g., Plato, Aristotle, Newton, and Leibniz) rejected this as implausible. But the alternative seemed equally dubious: If it did not go on forever, then “like the flat Earth” it had to end somewhere. And, what was beyond that? This model solved the Euclidean paradox of the universe’s “edge,” for if the universe is positively curved, it can be finite in extent and still not have any “edge.” In Riemann’s model, every part of the universe looks just like every other part, as far as shapes and measurements go.

Qur’an 51:47-48 mentions the universe’s spreading out or expansion in space: And the firmament: We constructed it with power and skill, and We are spreading it. This verse reveals that the distance between celestial bodies is increasing, which means that the universe is expanding.

Hubbel’s law

The most surprising discovery of the twentieth century was made by Edwin Hubble in 1929: The universe is not static, but is in a state of rapid expansion. Based upon his observations, he stated Hubble’s Law: Other galaxies are receding from us, the rate at which they recede depends upon their distance, and there is a constant ratio (the Hubble constant) between their velocity and their distance from us.

This law’s most dramatic consequence is what it tells about how we got to where we are now. If distances between galaxies increase as we look toward the future, they must decrease as we go back in time. Each ring of galaxies must have been closer to us in the past; the further away (or back in time) we go, the closer they would have been, and the faster they appear to be moving toward us.

Hubbel’s evidence was limited to a few relatively nearby galaxies. Over the years, however, thousands of observations extended and refined the measurements, and confirmed the general correctness of the velocity-distance relation. Current best estimates are that those galaxies are a billion light-years away (a light-year is roughly 6 trillion miles). Assuming that light always travels at the same speed, those galaxies must have been 1/20 of a light-year closer to us each year in the past. To have ended up a billion light years away, they must have started at exactly the same point as we did “the Big Bang” some 20 billion years ago.

Let’s start by using concentric rings of galaxies at intervals of a billion light-years. Then there are 20 rings, because five rings from us represents galaxies 5 billion light-years distant from us. To see them, we need to see their light that has been traveling for 5 billion years. Thus, we now see their position 5 billion years ago. As there was nothing 20 billion years ago, the outmost ring must the twentieth ring. This might sound paradoxical, as the circles of galaxies seem to grow larger as they move further away from us. However, the paradox is only apparent. Assuming Earth is in the South Pole and that the rings are a sphere’s latitudes, the rings become larger by the Equator and then become smaller until, in the twentieth ring, we reach the North Pole. This time, the rings are spheres and thus fit in the hypersphere. So Hubble’s Law supports our model of hypersphere for the universe.

But how can an expanding universe fit into our picture? In the sphere, the whole surface is expanding, just like inflating a balloon. So the distance from us (at Earth) to the Big Bang is increasing in all directions. In other words, any two points in the universe recede from each other, just as any two points on the balloon recede from each other during inflation.

The issue of time

So far, we have considered the universe’s shape at a fixed time. But, in physics, it is useful to consider space and time together. After Einstein’s brilliant publications about special relativity, Hermann Minkowski (1864-1909) proposed a very useful four-dimensional space-time model as the fabric of the physical universe. In a global picture, each fixed time represents a thin slice of space-time. Like an onion, each layer (assuming there are infinite very thin layers) corresponds to the universe at different fixed times. Given that each fixed time is a hypersphere, the layers are hyperspheres. According to Hubble’s Law, the hypersphere becomes larger as time passes. Just like an onion, the inner layers are smaller and the outer layers are larger.

In an ordinary onion, the layers are usually spheres; in the universe, the layers are hyperspheres. Assuming that the outer-most slice represents the universe at this time, the space-time “so far” is a four-dimensional onion, with layers of the universe at different times. The center of this “onion” corresponds to the Big Bang. We receive the picture of space-time until “this time.” Now, let mathematics predict the future of the space-time, just as Newton’s laws allowed a detailed description of the solar system’s future course. As time evolves, the universe expands, distances between galaxies grow, and gravity weakens. Thus, the space-time curvature diminishes and successive hyperspheres grow at a slower rate.

Two possibilities emerge: The hyperspheres continue to grow indefinitely, although at an ever-decreasing rate, or reach a maximum size and start to contract, in exactly the same fashion as the parallels of latitude on Earth: starting at the North Pole, growing until they reach their maximum size at the Equator, and then begin contracting toward the South Pole. If the universe contracts, distances between galaxies would decrease, gravity and curvature would increase, and the successive hyperspheres would shrink ever faster, eventually contracting into a single point: the “Big Crunch.”

We could then draw a map of the universe as a succession of hyperspheres growing in size for during the first half of its life and contracting during the second half. All space-time would then form a kind of super-hypersphere a four-dimensional object known as a “four-dimensional sphere.”

Conclusion

At a fixed time, the universe should be a hypersphere. When the time dimension is added, space-time should be super-hypersphere, with a “Big Bang” like the South Pole, each fixed time of the universe corresponding to the parallels, and finally a “Big Crunch” corresponding to the North Pole in our space-time model.

Almost everybody has heard that time is the fourth dimension. Even though this concept is easy to imagine, people find it hard to understand because of its mystification by science popularizers. We live in three-dimensional space. This means that I can parameterize the universe such that I can describe any point in it by using just three letters (a, b, c).

Footnotes

1. All of these statements are only approximately true. They would be exactly true if the North Star was precisely overhead at the North Pole, instead of being off center by about 1.
2. The real estimate might not be 25,000 miles, as we do not know the exact correspondence between ancient and current measurements. However, this was a very good estimate for that time.
3. Despite the potential errors mentioned in footnote 2, this also was a good estimate for that time.

Useful Links: Organizations devoted to the academic study of religion and interfaith research and activities have found a home on the Internet. Have a look at:

www.conjure.com/religion.html; www.theorderoftime.-com/cyber/to/rs-file/interf.html; www.interfaithclergy.org/ links.html; http://religion.rutgers.edu/vri/academic.html, www.fefadmin.org/interfaith_links.htm; www.beliefnet. com/index/ index_102.html, and www.academicinfo.net/

Religionmeta.html. We encourage our readers to take part in their activities and online discussions.

North American Interfaith Summit: The United Religions Initiative (URI), a global network of grassroots-based interfaith groups, is holding its first North American summit, “Circles in Motion-Gifts to Share,” May 31-June 4, at Salt Lake City’s 2002 Olympic Village. Contact Kay Lindahl, URI-North America, P.O. Box 6071, Laguna Niquel, CA 92607; Tel: (949) 661-3087; Fax: (949) 496-5535; e-mail: theasc949@aol.com; or visit www.uri.org.

Interesting Books: Huston Smith, Why Religion Matters: The Fate of the Human Spirit in an Age of Disbelief; Andrew Newberg M.D. et al., Why God Won’t Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief; Gerald L. Schroeder, The Hidden Face of God: How Science Reveals the Ultimate Truth; William A. Dembski and Michael J. Behe, Intelligent Design: The Bridge Between Science & Theology; Jensine Andresen (editor) et al., Cognitive Models and Spiritual Maps: Interdisciplinary Explorations of Religious Experience; Joel Beversluis (editor), Sourcebook of the World’s Religions: An Interfaith Guide to Religion and Spirituality. -www.amazon.com.

IN SOCIETY

Interfaith Network: The United Communities of Spirit is a global interfaith network linking people of diverse faiths and beliefs who want to work with others to build a better world. In its quest to promote awareness that all people belong to the same spiritual family, it offers e-mail/web conference facilities and an extensive database that allows members to express the fine details of their personal beliefs. – http://origin.org/ucs.cfm.

Ecological Medicine: As more people realize that health and environment are interlinked, interest in ecological medicine continues to increase. Kenny Ausubel’s “The Coming Age of Ecological Medicine” (The Utne Reader, 27 July 2001) deals with this topic. In it, Carolyn Raffensperger, executive director of the Science and Environmental Health Network (SEHN), says that ecological medicine seeks to establish the conditions for health and wholeness, acknowledges that people are part of the local ecosystem, and that medical practices should not damage other species or the ecosystem. SEHN calls upon science and industry to conduct impact studies before implementing their activities. Raffensperger claims that this usually is not done, and that the results are disastrous. – www.utne.com.

The “Benefits” of Smoking: Philip Morris reports that deaths from smoking saved the Czech government at least $30 million on health care, pensions, and housing for the elderly; that smoking had a positive effect on the nation’s 1999 public finance balance (estimated at $146 million); and that smoking-related expenses of $394 million (1999) were “almost exactly balanced out by the excise duty charged by the Czech government.” Moreover, the government benefited from value added tax of $89 million, customs duty of $9 million, and income tax from tobacco businesses in the Czech Republic of $19 million. Spokesman Remi Calvet said that: “We deeply regret any impression that premature death of smokers could represent a benefit for society. Tobacco is a controversial industry, but we are still an industry and sometimes we need some economic data on our industry.” – http://washingtonpost.com.

IN SCIENCE

Free Space Optics: Researchers are studying the possibility of replacing underground cabling with free space optics, a system that uses invisible focused lasers to transmit data. Speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second, faster than any other broadband connection now available, are possible. Several problems remain to be solved, though: automatic refocusing of laser connections, ensuring a clear line of sight, and how to deal with fog and other weather conditions that could disrupt the signal. Terabeam reports successful trials in foggy Seattle. – www.popsci.com.

The “God” Particle: Europe’s CERN laboratory and the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Chicago are racing to find evidence supporting the Higgs boson, a subatomic particle popularly known as the “God” particle. Researchers at CERN thought that they had found it in November 2000, but now it appears that these “may have been simply random movements by other, less interesting particles.” The Higgs boson is a theoretical particle believed to be the source of mass and weight in the uni- verse. The race continues. – www.latimes.com.

A More Accurate Clock: American scientists using sophisticated laser technology and a cooled ion of the liquid metal mercury (a mercury atom with one electron stripped off) have developed the “all-optical atomic clock.” In theory, it could be as much as 100 to 1,000 times more accurate than current cesium-based microwave atomic clocks. Applications are expected in navigation and communications technology, as well in such abstract areas as Einstein’s theory of general relativity and the plasticity of time. – http://news.cnet.com.

Stem Cell Research: A National Institutes of Health report calls for more research on how adult, fetus, and embryo stem cells can help treat juvenile diabetes, Parkinson’s, and other diseases. Stem cells from days-old embryos, most of which are obtained from fertility clinics, seem to show the most potential. They are more plentiful, easier to extract and then grow and multiply in a laboratory, and can develop into a much wider array of tissues. Opponents are trying to block research on the grounds that such cells constitute potential or actual human life. – http://washingtonpost.com.