FEBRUARY 200722 The Woodside NewsThe Woodside NewsSection ASection A

Big Noses

What explodes like acannon, warns of

danger, detects minute invis-ible chemicals, filters nox-ious elements, destroysgerms, senses direction, gen-erates pleasurable sensa-tions, provokes powerfulemotions, gives the breath-of-life? Who could evenimagine, much less create, such aphenomenal multi-purpose tool?

Sometimes I get “big nose” com-ments. I appreciate such compli-ments, because I’m very thankful fora large nose. The primary purpose ofthe nose is to suck in air. The biggerthe nose, the more air can be takenin at once. The bigger the nose, thelarger the filtering, warming, andhumidifying chamber to prepare airfor the lungs. Hooray for big noses!

Secondarily, the nose promotesfacial attractiveness. Imagine if thatspot on your face were empty! KingSolomon, often considered a con-noisseur of feminine beauty, admiredbig-nosed women. He praised onewife for her enormous nose “like thetower of Lebanon.” This was appar-ently a successful complimentbecause Solomon accumulated 700wives and 300 concubines. Todayhusbands would praise their wiveswith, “Your nose is like the SearsTower!” Suitors, save this compli-ment for just before presenting thediamond. The bigger the nose, the

better to smell perfume,roses, and chocolates onValentine’s Day.

BULLDOGS

Not all noses are as attrac-tive as Mrs. Solomon’s.Nobody wants a bulldognose—except bulldogs.Though some think it ugly,the well-set-back nose per-mits the bulldog to main-

tain its jaw grip and still breathe.While the bulldog hangs onto itsprey, the loosely-wrinkled skin pro-vides channels to drain drippingblood away from the eyes and airpassages.

MOOSE

Nobody wants a nose as big as thatof a moose, but it is a fascinatingpiece of engineering. Moose can divealmost 20 feet deep to graze onunderwater vegetation. The moosenose has multiple large passages (are

you surprised?). To seal them fordives specialized structures of mus-cle, bone, and cartilage work togeth-er. Within each nostril a thick tissuepad can be pulled in to block outernasal passages while diving. On eachside of the dome of the moose noseis a pulley-like structure that helpsmuscles pull each nostril shut. Amobile cartilage joint on each sideslides back and forth to widen ornarrow the nostril.

This well-designed system couldnot have evolved gradually. It had towork properly from the beginning ormoose would drown. Less-than-per-fect operation confers no survivaladvantage for moose.

ELEPHANTS

Probably the biggest nose on earth isthe elephant’s trunk—6 feet longweighing 300 pounds! It’s a respira-tory device, an olfactory instrument,and a food-gathering machine.Trunks can pick up small berries andleaves from the ground with the sen-sitive tip or pull seed pods and fruitfrom 20-foot trees. If necessary, ele-phants wrap their trunks aroundtrees and shake food down. Theyeven uproot trees with their trunksto reach upper leaves and fruit.Trunks strip bark from trees and digup roots for food.

Trunks can pick up 600-poundlogs. They can suck up 1.5 gallons ofwater to spray into the mouth, overthe back, or all over you. Elephantslooking for water dig pits 10 feetdeep with their trunks. Elephantsare also excellent swimmers usingtrunks as snorkels. Trunks are nosesdesigned for amazing breadth of use.

HUMANS

The roof of the human nose contains10 million scent receptors of 500-1,000 different types, detectingthousands of chemicals. Scent recep-tors are proteins folded to fit odormolecules of particular shapes.When odor molecules snap intoreceptors, olfactory nerves signal thebrain.

For comparison, dogs average220 million scent receptors. If themembranes in a dog’s nose werespread out, they would cover severalking-size beds. Odors to dogs arelike mathematics to people.

The sense of smell is very com-plex. A single odor may contain

1,000 different chemicals. A quickwhiff generates activity throughoutthe brain. Strong emotional memo-ries result because the nose is alsoconnected to the brain’s limbic sys-tem which controls emotion.

Smell is essential for tastingfood. Blocked noses yield tastelessfood. As a child I applied thisknowledge whenever required to eathorrible food.

Trained perfumers can identify10,000 different fragrances. To warnof natural gas leaks, a rotten egg smellis added. The nose can detect as littleas one 400-billionth of a gram of thischemical in a quart of air.

Historically, doctors sniffedpatients to diagnose diseases. Plaguesmelled like apples; scarlet fever andtyphoid smelled like hot bread;measles smelled like fresh-pluckedfeathers; diphtheria smelled sicken-ingly sweet. Doctors smell thebreath of unconscious patients tohelp ascertain the problem: a sweet

breath could indicate diabetes;ammonia smells could indicate kid-ney problems; cyanide poisoningsmells like almonds; arsenic poison-ing smells like garlic.

Sir Bernard Spilsbury (1877-1947), the founder of forensicpathology and England’s real-lifeSherlock Holmes, deduced muchfrom telltale fragrances around crimescenes and corpses. Crime sceneinvestigators still collect “nose” data.

The nose is a sophisticatedmulti-purpose air filter for the lungs.Nasal tissues trap foreign particles.The nose runs, bathing snared bac-teria in dissolving chemicals.

THE BIBLE AND SCIENCE BY WILLIAM T. PELLETIER, PH.D [WOODSIDE NEWS COLUMNIST]

WILLIAM T. PELLETIERPH.D.

Red Riding Hood: “What a big nose you have!” Wolf: “The better to smell you with, my dear!”

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SCIENCE continued on page 23

Sneezes eject larger particles at over100 mph.

Iron in the nose bone betweenthe eyes makes the nose a compass.Experiments have shown some capa-bility to determine direction bymagnetic fields. Is this one ofAdam’s original God-given abilitiesthat has been mostly lost over sixmillennia of degeneration?

The nose hosts a second detec-tion system. The centimeter-longvomeronasal organ (VNO) detectsodorless pheromones which affectfeelings and mating behavior. It iswired directly to the hypothalamus,

which controls emotions and drives.Evolutionists once incorrectlybelieved the VNO was a useless ves-tigial organ. How would two com-pletely separate systems for detect-ing invisible molecules in the airevolve by random increments?

Who designed and engineerednoses? I will give thanks to Thee, for Iam fearfully and wonderfully made.Wonderful are Thy works, and my soulknows it very well. (Psalm 139:14)Praise be to our omnificent God.

Happy Valentine’s Day dearestJo. I love you with my whole nose!

Dr. Pelletier may be contacted by email

FEBRUARY 2007 23The Woodside NewsThe Woodside News Section ASection A

SCIENCE continued from page 22

at BibleScienceGuy@WoodsideNews.org©2007 William T. Pelletier