Science Tries to See

Psalm 139:14
“I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”

Scientists have tried to tackle the job of creating a machine that is able to see as well as the human eye. In the process, they are gaining a new appreciation for the wonderful gift of sight.

First of all, they have learned that no computer chip can be made today which could begin to do what the retina does. The retina is a thin membrane, like a small slip of clingy food wrap at the back of the eye. It contains the rods and cones and converts the picture from the lens into chemical signals that are sent to the brain. The retina is believed to contain the equivalent of twenty-five billion transistors! One expert has estimated that a computer chip that could begin to do what your retina does would be about half-a-million times bigger than your retina, contain over a million transistors and weigh in at about 100 pounds. It would also need a cooling system! Even with all of this, it couldn’t see very well. It would only be able to resolve a square area of about two thousand pixels, while your eye can resolve five times that much!

Truly, modern science offers elegant testimony to the fact that the eye could not have been produced by evolution and that it could have only been created by a very wise Creator!

Prayer:
Truly, dear Lord, I am fearfully and wonderfully made! I thank You for all the senses You have given me. Even though they may not all be perfect, I ask that You would perfect them by leading me to use them to Your glory. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Notes:
Photo: Human eye. The light circle is where the optic nerve exits the retina. Courtesy of Alexander Churkin. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.