Easter and why does it move around?

[Arch]

That's very interesting- I'd not heard that particular misconception before. You'd think with some birds like geese it would be more obvious when they come and go. Right enough the smaller birds like swallows do just seem to appear one day in the summer.

Interestingly, the example I know of IS geese - the Barnacle Goose. So called, because people thought that they turned into Barnacles when they weren't around. I suppose they were seen flying out to sea, and not coming back for months...

Seems odd to us, but then we are happy to accept the miracle that is a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, because it's been proved by science - when you stop to think about it, that has to be one of the most bizarre and miraculous ideas, a creature turning into soup and then reforming....

 

[Andy in Sig]

"Miraculous"?? Tut, tut, tut that's woefully unscientific. It's just genetics controlling developmental biology.

 

[Arch]

"Miraculous"?? Tut, tut, tut that's woefully unscientific. It's just genetics controlling developmental biology.

Ok, but when you stop to think about it - cells rearranging themselves, into something so different? Yeah, we understand the mechanism, now, but it's still an amazing thing to happen, don't you think? When you really stop to think about, so many of the process we take for granted are amazing, and it's not hard to see how people without the benefit of modern knowledge could misunderstand them.

 

[purpleR]

"Miraculous"?? Tut, tut, tut that's woefully unscientific. It's just genetics controlling developmental biology.

Just? Just? Don't you find that concept one of the most fascinating discoveries of modern biology?

I think the use of the word miraculous is fine here. Easter reincarnations aside, I don't suppose anyone is suggesting that an actual miracle has taken place here. I can appreciate something seeming like a miracle without believing in magic.

 

[purpleR]

oops, that's what happens when you wander off for a sandwich mid-post