Educated Slugs

1 Chronicles 16:9
“Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works.”

So complex is the human brain that even some of today’s most visionary scientists have commented that they doubt science will ever fully understand how the brain works. To better understand the brain, scientists have been studying the brains of so-called simple creatures like the garden slug.

But how similar is the brain of a garden slug to the human brain? Researchers have been amazed at the unexpected similarities and abilities shared by both the garden slug and man. Researchers have found that garden slugs can be trained, using unpleasant flavorings, to avoid their favorite food, potatoes. Eventually the slugs will avoid potatoes that have not been made to taste bad. Slugs, and even garden snails, can learn a sequence of events.

How much more simple are the slugs’ brains than ours? To their surprise, researchers discovered that the slugs’ brains use some of the same chemical methods to learn and store information as do mammals. In other words, the slugs’ brains don’t use a simpler method to learn and remember than do a cat’s or a dog’s brain. Mammal brains and slug brains are based on the same design.

This finding came as a surprise and erases evolutionary distinctions between simpler and supposedly more evolved creatures. It reveals the Creator’s pattern. He used the same design when He equipped the slug’s brain to learn as He used when He made a dog able to learn. Life is evidence of a perfect Creator, not accidental improvements!

Prayer:
Dear Father in heaven, I thank You for the ability to learn. I ask that as we learn more about Your creative work, more people would learn to see Your hand and seek peace with You through the forgiveness of their sins in Jesus Christ. Amen.

Notes:
Robert Pollie. 1983. “The Educated Nervous System.” Science News, Vol. 123. Jan. 29, pp. 74-75. Photo: Slug eggs and baby. Courtesy of Tilman Piesk. Licensed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2.