The Mystery of the Exploding Beetle

In 1903 the Wright brothers succeeded with
controlled powered flight because
they asked the right question: “How do birds use their wings?”
Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, wondered how we could hold a
computer in the palm of our hand. He succeeded with the
iPhone because he asked the right question.

History is filled with engineers who asked the right question.
From airplanes to smartphones, we couldn’t imagine our
lives without these modern inventions. While the names and
technology above might be familiar to you, our story involves
someone you might not know—Dr. Andy McIntosh. And the
mystery he is trying to solve is on a much smaller scale than
airplanes or smartphones.

Andy has spent over 40 years in the fields of thermodynamics
and engineering. For nearly 20 of those years, he’s
focused his attention on a little insect whose explosive tendencies
have inspired exciting research and discoveries, all
pointing to the Creator.

How Can That Be?

A seemingly small incident in 2001 changed Andy’s life.
He was sitting in his office at Leeds University in England
where he had been conducting research for 15 years (and
would continue for another decade). While reading a copy of
the Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences, he noticed
an article about the bombardier beetle, an insect that blows
bursts of boiling water and chemicals out its rear end.

Looking at high-speed photos of a bug blasting chemicals
from its behind might fascinate most of us for only a few
minutes, but not Andy. Someone with a doctorate in combustion
theory doesn’t look at the world the way we do. He
knew that there must be more to the story.

Biologists have known about the beetle since the early
1800s, when the first reports were published about beetles
shooting “artillery.” Later in the 1960s and 1970s, the world’s
leading expert on the bombardier beetle, entomologist
Thomas Eisner, made some exciting discoveries about the
beetle’s complex chemistry, but many mysteries remained.

What caught Andy’s attention in the new report was
the obvious evidence of combustion, his area of expertise.
Something amazing must be going on for an insect to set off
a series of explosions and then to machine gun its enemies.

Andy wasn’t interested in the bombardier
beetle like a biologist might be.
He was interested in the engineering
and physics. As those who believe in
creation, we know that God made this
sophisticated chemical system (which
includes specialized chemicals that
make the reaction go faster), along
with a combustion chamber, a moveable
exhaust turret (more versatile than
a tank turret), the inlet and exhaust
valves, and a sensory mechanism to
determine from which direction the
attack may be coming. Andy wondered
if it were possible that the Designer
God had implemented some unique
engineering solutions to miniaturized
explosions that human industry might
learn from and imitate (biomimicry) for
the good of our fellow man.

We may not know the explosive jet’s
purpose in the perfect world before
Adam’s fall, but Andy wanted to know
more about the engineering applications
today. He visited his university’s
biology department to see if anyone
would be interested in learning more
about the mechanics of this beetle’s
unique weapon system.

To his surprise, one of the biologists
was not only uninterested but also
questioned why Andy would bother.
“What do you hope to learn, since the
beetle is still evolving?”

“It was
precisely
because I
believed in
creation
that I was
spurred to
ask the right
questions.”

The lack of curiosity shocked Andy. “I
am interested in how things work. Since
I knew the master Designer designed
animals, I expected to discover new
insights into combustion and engineering.
Rather than being a hindrance, my
belief in God’s creation opened a new
research field. It was precisely because
I believed in creation that I was spurred
to ask the right questions.”

He reached out to the author of the
bombardier beetle paper, Dr. Eisner,
who was working at Cornell University.
Little did Andy know what doors
this decision would open for major
research, which continues to this day,
including new discoveries and patents.

The Work Begins

For about six years, Andy worked off
and on with Eisner at his Cornell University
laboratory in Ithaca, New York.
Eisner had access to electron microscopes
that could take detailed images
of the beetle’s internal organs. Andy
still remembers the light-bulb moment
he had during a visit with Eisner in
March 2004.

Biologists had long known that the
beetle has an inlet valve controlling
the flow of chemicals into the reaction
chamber where the explosion occurs.
But the mystery was that the chemicals
don’t naturally produce an explosion as
strong as the blast captured in Eisner’s
images. The jet of steam and noxious
chemicals (benzoquinones) fire repeatedly
through nozzles, at a speed of up
to 65 feet (20 m) per second.

Then in discussions with Eisner in his laboratory, Andy discovered
the secret. When Eisner showed him scanning electron
microscope images of the beetle’s anatomy, Andy realized
that it had another valve at the outlet. If the beetle can keep the
chamber closed long enough, the pressure will build up without
the water turning to steam (sort of like a pressure cooker).

There it sat, where it had been all along—the membrane
that served as an outlet valve. But nobody had realized its
function before. It is generally limp under a microscope, like
a deflated balloon. Up until this point, even Eisner hadn’t
considered that this was a valve. But after seeing the detailed
imaging, Eisner agreed that the membrane was functioning
in this way. So Andy had discovered that the beetle’s blaster
is a two-valve system, not a one-valve system, “an example of
exquisite engineering,” as he called it.

The other missing piece of the puzzle was whether a
special kind of explosion, called a steam explosion, could
account for the rapid ejection of the spray that Eisner had
found. To uncover that answer, Andy needed to identify the
precise nature of the mixture the beetle released. How much
of it was steam, and how much was liquid water and the noxious
chemicals?

The beetle’s basic chemical cocktail has long been known:
hydrogen peroxide and hydroquinone. And scientists know
that these chemicals don’t react without a catalyst (a substance
that speeds up a chemical reaction). The beetle has
these catalysts in abundance: catalase and peroxidase. But
how much will turn into steam before the concoction is
released as an explosive spray?

Here’s where Andy’s engineering came in, but he needed
help from someone who could do advanced computer modeling.
So he applied for a grant to hire an assistant, and to
his delight the grant was approved. The computer modeler
analyzed what should happen if the outlet valve opens at 1.1
bar (1 bar is the atmospheric pressure at sea level). At that
pressure the water will reach 221°F (105°C) without boiling.
(Water normally boils at 212°F [100°C].) When the pressure
is suddenly released, the water will instantly turn to steam
in what’s called flash evaporation.

In the computer model, the steam explosion drove the
water and steam combination within only two thousandths
of a second. At that rate, the spray would eject about 500
cycles per second—exactly what Eisner had found in his
experimental observations. So Andy and his assistant knew
the computer had correctly simulated the insect’s explosion.

Mimicking the Beetle Blaster

Andy and his partner published a technical paper and
shared their astonishing findings at a conference. So intrigued
by their work, an entrepreneur in the audience offered to continue
funding the research if they were prepared to build an
experimental rig to mimic the beetle’s actions. The entrepreneur’s
special interest was biomimicry, and he believed Andy
and his team could invent new technology if they took their
research a step further.

Andy was delighted, but he needed help. He was a theoretical
engineer, more comfortable with mathematical calculations
on a chalkboard. He explains, “I never built stuff before,
but we had some brilliant staff in the engineering department
who were able to both design and build prototypes.”

Andy’s team got to work. Their objective was to build a
two-valve delivery system. The main aim was to demonstrate
how the spray system worked. They also looked at the
effects of varying the pressure, the timing of the spray, the
distance traveled, and size of the spray droplets. Their goal
was to produce a machine that sent an explosive jet as far as
the beetle’s. And in time, they were successful.

Unlike the bombardier beetle’s passive valve system, which
automatically opens and closes when the pressure reaches
a certain point, Andy’s rig uses advanced electronically controlled
valves that a computer opens and closes on command.

Their experimental chamber was about 1 inch (2 cm) long,
20 times bigger than the beetle’s reaction chamber (which is
only 5 hundredths of an inch [1 mm]). The beetle can spray
200 times the length of its chamber, easily hitting a nearby
ant on the forest floor. Andy and his team were delighted
when their rig could spray 200 times its size—13 feet (4 m)
across the room.

Photo ©SATOSHI KURIBAYASHI/MINDEN PICTURES

The bombardier
beetle (Pheropsophus
jessoensis)
protects itself by
ejecting a noxious
chemical spray.

In 2010, Andy and his lab partner
received the prestigious Times Higher
Education award for “The Outstanding
Contribution to Innovation and
Technology” in London.

Andy is still pursuing possible applications
to industry and has three patents
for the three main applications
of this invention: injectors for fuel
additives in engines (for more efficient
burning), pharmaceutical sprays, and
fire extinguishers.

Now in retirement of sorts, Andy
is working with students in the US
at Liberty University’s engineering
department to develop a fire protection
system that could better protect
fire fighters during a wildfire. Andy’s
plan is to develop backpacks filled
with water that could shoot steam and
water spray up to 50 feet (15 m). (See
bombardierbeetle.org for the latest on
this creationist research project.)

Irreducible Complexity

This beetle
cannot blast
predators
unless all
its parts are
present and
working
together.

Back in the 1970s, creationists
latched onto the bombardier beetle as
a premier example of irreducible complexity,
even before Dr. Michael Behe
invented the term in his 1996 book
Darwin’s Black Box. It refers to a system
in which all the parts must be present
and working together or else the system
fails. Just as a mousetrap won’t
snap shut unless all the pieces are
working together, this beetle cannot
blast predators unless all its parts are
present and working together.

Evolutionists try to argue that each
individual part can be built stage by
stage, but they must show how each of
the chemicals offers an advantage by itself. Yet the hydrogen
peroxide and hydroquinone are no use as explosives without
the catalysts (peroxidase and catalase) to help the chemistry
work fast enough.

Well-known atheist Richard Dawkins mocked creationists
back in the 1980s and 1990s for popularizing the bombardier
beetle (as he still does today). In a lecture to children
in 1991, he famously claimed that the bombardier beetle
could have easily evolved by gradually adding more and
more hydrogen peroxide. This could produce bigger and bigger
explosions. But he set aside the hydroquinone, saying it
was unimportant. And sure enough, hydrogen peroxide can
be mildly explosive in small quantities and with the right
catalyst.

But in doing this, Dawkins failed to explain the chemistry
of the beetle. The catalytic reaction of hydroquinone is
critically important for an effective explosion. No one has
shown how the system could evolve slowly. The chemistry
is complex, but here are the basics: breaking down hydroquinone
produces hydrogen, which then combines with oxygen
from the hydrogen peroxide to produce a runaway steam
explosion.

Andy concludes, “In every respect, the bombardier beetle is
irreducibly complex because the system will not work unless
you have the chemistry right, the catalysts right, the inlet
valve right, and the outlet valve right. Not to mention that
the reaction chamber must be there to begin with or else the
beetle will blow itself to bits.”

After watching bombardier beetles in action for nearly 20
years, Andy knows they are one of the most obvious examples
of irreducible complexity in all of nature.

In fact, the bombardier beetle’s blaster is so sophisticated
in the way it senses and responds to danger, producing
chemicals on demand, that scientists still don’t fully understand
how all the parts work. For instance, they would love
to learn how this beetle produces hydrogen peroxide. If they
could figure it out, it could lead to low-cost manufacturing
of this essential chemical found in medicine cabinets, hair
dyes, and military rockets.

Far from hindering him, Andy’s belief in creation and the
Bible has helped him solve problems that nobody else was
thinking of—because he asked the right questions.

“As you look at biology and look at nature through Bible-believing
eyes, you see things that biologists who are
governed by evolutionary thinking often do not see. My
belief in the creation perspective opened a whole new area
of research.”

An Unlikely Weapon

A toad searching for an afternoon snack
spies a beetle sitting on a leaf. But before he
can flick out his long, sticky tongue, his face is
covered in a cloud of scalding, noxious chemical
spray. He has just come face to face with a
bombardier beetle.

There’s nothing like it in nature, and any sensible
person knows that a tiny beetle less than an inch in
size could never produce a controlled explosion by
accident. It shouts an intelligent Creator.

All the parts had to be working from the start,
not a product of step-by-step construction. Like
a mousetrap won’t work unless all the pieces are
working together, the same goes for this supreme
example of irreducible complexity. In fact, the
bombardier beetle’s blaster is so complex
that scientists still don’t fully understand
how all the parts work.

1: Chemical Production

Bombardier beetles are unique
in their ability to superheat a
liquid and expel it in an intense,
pulsating jet. It starts with two
chemicals, hydrogen peroxide
and hydroquinone, produced in
the secretory lobe and stored in
the reservoir. Chemists still have
not figured out how the insect
produces the hydrogen peroxide, which is very unstable.

2: Movable Turret

The beetle can aim its turret in any
direction, sending out repeated
jets of steam through nozzles up
to a stunning 65 feet (20 m) per
second. Scientists still don’t know
fully how the turret works.

3: Reaction Chamber

The two main chemicals do not react
unless two other chemicals, known as
catalysts, are present in the reaction
chamber. How the beetle produces
and stores these catalysts is still a
mystery. The inner surface of the
chamber is designed to withstand boiling
temperatures produced by the reaction
(221°F or 105°C).

The flow and direction of chemicals must
be controlled by a valve system, in two
stages. When the beetle is ready to fire,
the inlet valve first opens, allowing the
reactants to enter the chamber. Once the
chamber is full and the chemicals react,
the pressure pinches the inlet valve shut.
At the same time, the growing heat and
pressure forces the outlet valve open.
After the ejection of each explosion of
the hot pressurized fluid, the pressure
drops and the valve closes.

Actual Size
(under 1 inch)

368–735 Explosions per Second

The spray isn’t continuous.
Instead, the beetle fires several
bursts in rapid succession, which
keeps the reaction chamber from
overheating.

221°F

Average temperature of the
chemicals when released.
Because the chemicals are under
pressure, the temperature is
higher than the boiling point
of water (212°F).

An Explosive Cocktail

Two common chemicals produce
the beetle’s boiling spray. But they
need an extra push to explode.

Hydrogen Peroxide

This chemical (H₂O₂) is commonly
kept in medicine cabinets to clean
wounds. In the beetle’s reaction
chamber, a catalyst (called
catalase) breaks the hydrogen
peroxide down into water (H₂O),
free oxygen (O), and heat.

Hydroquinone

This bleaching agent (C₆H₆O₂)
is common in skin products
to lighten skin. In the beetle’s
reaction chamber, a catalyst
(called peroxidases) releases
hydrogen (H). The hydrogen then
combines to initiate a runaway
steam explosion with the free
oxygen (above).

SourceThis article originally appeared on answersingenesis.org

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