THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION ON LIFE-SUPPORT

Modern scientific findings continue to produce awe:

• Researchers are discovering that trees form communities that "talk" to each other sharing their needs and providing mutual assistance...One of their defenses against being overeaten is producing chemicals that make them taste bad. At the same time, other chemicals warn nearby trees that a swarm of voracious beetles or other animals have invaded...Some oak and beech leaves and spruce needles will produce electrical signals when an insect predator eats them...within an hour, the tree will taste so bad that the insects flee. ("Answers," May-June 2017, Vol.12 No. 3, 66-67)

It gets better. Trees can even signal predators to come feast upon the attacking insects:

• As hungry insects salivate on elms and pines, the trees can chemically analyze the insects' saliva, reproduce it in mass quantities, and broadcast the chemical to the forest community. This cry for help alerts predators who like to eat the insects. (67)

The predators can interpret the trees' message of "food on the table" and promptly arrive for their feast.

How can evolutionists explain this intricate symbiotic relationship in terms of Darwinian gradualism? They can't, but this will not stop them from proclaiming evolution to be an established fact beyond questioning.

• More astounding, roots may connect directly with the roots of other trees. Trees can distinguish members of their own kind and establish connections with them...Though plants do compete in forests, current research suggests that more often, trees may be cooperating and assisting each other. When one tree is sick, nearby trees may share nutrients through their roots to help it get well again. If a largepole pine sapling springs up in the shade of a thick forest, older trees somehow sense that it doesn't get enough sunlight to make food for itself, so they may share their bounty. They even change their root structure to open space for saplings. (67)

How do they communicate with one another? One way seems to be by sound:

• In experiments, roots direct other roots to grow towards [a] low frequency.

They also communicate chemically:

• Microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi, gather water and nutrients that trees need. So roots produce nutritious substances, such as sugars and proteins, to attract these organisms. (67)

Can chance mutations - and the vast majority of them are destructive - produce such highly complex systems of integrated communication or are these phenomena the result of an intelligent Designer?

We are left to wonder about future scientific findings. How much more biological complexity and interrelatedness must be discovered before evolutionary orthodoxy begins to crumble? From many indications, it is already on life-support.