The more scientists study plants, the more evident the complexity of their design becomes. Plants control their rate of photosynthesis with pores called stomata. Stomata allow carbon dioxide to enter the plant and oxygen to exit as the process of photosynthesis takes place. However, water can also exit when the stomata are open, so the stomata stay closed when there is little light or when water needs to be conserved. The wider the stomata open, the faster photosynthesis takes place and the faster the plant frows. Thus, plants must balance the need to grow with the need to conserve water.
While blue and red light can both be useful for photosynthesis, scientists have found that the plant's mechanism which opens and closes the stomata only responds to blue light. This blue wavelength of light causes certain cells within a plant to swell and open the stomata. Since red wavelengths heat the plants and tend to dry them out, designing plant stomata to open primarily for blue wavelengths is pure genius.
Using this information, scientists tried an experiment using orchids. By providing extra blue light to open the stomata, they more than doubled the growth rate without drying out the orchids.
Even plants have complex mechanisms that point to their Designer.
From A Closer Look at the Evidence by Kleiss, July 4.
