Mystery Of Three Clocks (1955)

[Music] [Music] [Music] Hello there. Welcome to Moody Institute of Science. Recently, a number of us here at the laboratory have been studying alarm clocks. Now, just before you put us down as hopeless, let me say that they're very special alarm clocks. They have no springs, no electric motors. They never run down or wear out. In fact, they improve with use, and they're amazingly accurate. Now, don't run down to the drugstore to buy such a clock. You won't find them for sale. In fact, though you may not know it, you already own one. You may not have been born with a silver spoon in your mouth, but you were born with a very remarkable alarm clock in your head. Most of us find it rather difficult to judge the passage of time with any degree of accuracy when we're awake. But when we're asleep, it's a different matter. When we started to investigate the subject here at the laboratory, we expected it to be interesting. But we had no idea of the surprises that were in store for us. The first step in any scientific investigation is to explore the general background of the subject to find out what's already known, what others have done in the field. In this case, that meant a study of how and why we sleep and of the part that the brain plays in this vital function. A great deal of research has been done on the subject of sleep. For many years, it was assumed that there was a sleep center located in the brain, a mechanism which put us to sleep when we needed rest. But years of the most painstaking research have failed to uncover the slightest trace of such a mechanism. Scientists found no sleep center. Instead, they found an arousal, an awakening mechanism located in the hypothalamus deep in the brain at the top of the brain stem. This leads to a rather startling conclusion that man's norm state is to be asleep. He's awake only when the alarm clock in his head is ringing. To appreciate this function of the human brain, it's helpful to understand just a bit about the fantastically complicated mechanism inside our head. The human brain is essentially an electrical device. When a piece of electrical equipment is operating, it is surrounded by a magnetic or electrical field. You can't see it or feel it or hear it, but it's there. A simple coil of wire connected to a high gain amplifier will pick up and amplify the invisible field surrounding the motor. As the brain functions, it gives off a very complex pattern of electrical waves. Would you like to hear my brain working? Listen. Quiet, isn't it? No. The waves from the human brain can't be picked up with a device as simple as this. But science has devised a way to detect and record the delicate pulses from the human brain. Tiny electrodes are carefully cemented to the scalp in such a way that they pick up the electrical signals from eight principal areas of the brain. The patient is made comfortable and encouraged to sleep. Wires from the electrodes lead to an adjoining room where the instrument called an electroinsphllograph is located. The signals are amplified several million times and then recorded on a graphic recorder. Each of the areas of the brain under study is connected to a corresponding recording channel where a permanent record is made of the electrical activity of the brain. An entire new branch of medicine has developed around the interpretation of these records. At first glance, the electro and tracings seem just a hopeless jumble. But to a trained observer, they yield some very significant information. A diseased or a damaged brain will show tracings that are entirely different from those of a normal brain. The electroinsphllograph also will tell us a great deal about the alarm clock in our brain. This is the typical sleep pattern. The waves are longer and slower than when we're awake, and they always contain these so-called spindle bursts. At this point, the patient was awakened by a noise in the room, a hand clasp. This is the typical pattern of wakefulness. Here again, the patient is asleep. And this time, a light was turned on, awakening the patient. In this case, there was a startled awakening followed by a muscular activity which greatly distorted the normal pattern. Now, from all of this, it is very obvious that our alarm system is connected to our various senses. To our ears, the sound will awaken us, to our eyes, a light, and to our other senses. For we can be awakened by hunger or pain. If we touch an object that is hot, immediately a message rushes to the brain and the answer comes back, "Take your hand away. You're being burned." The message from the finger travels up the arm to the brain stem. And here it divides. The main path goes directly to the brain, but a collateral path goes through the arousal center to the brain. Now, so it is with all of our senses. the main path directly to the brain and a collateral path through the arousal center to the brain. If it were not for this very wonderful provision, sleep would be a dangerous thing indeed. We would be completely cut off from the world around us, utterly helpless. About now, some of you are ready to ask, "Well, why do you call this an alarm clock? Isn't it merely an alarm system connected to our various senses?" Well, obviously it takes more than a bell to make an alarm clock. Some timekeeping device is necessary. Before we could establish the existence of a timekeeping device in the human brain, it was necessary to rule out what we call habit. Now, all of us have had the experience of awakening at the usual hour, even on a holiday when we might have slept longer. We explain this by saying, well, we're in the habit of awakening at this hour. But there are factors involved that habit alone just can't explain. Recently, I spent some time over in the Middle East. For several months, I had my wristwatch, but no alarm clock. And yet, I found, to my surprise, that I could awaken at any hour, almost on the dot, merely by concentrating on the time just a few minutes before going to sleep. Now, this wasn't habit. I was half a world away from home. My days and nights were completely reversed. Also, the time of awakening varied from day to day. A timekeeping device of some kind within the human brain would seem the only logical explanation. This ability to awaken at a specified time without outside help is not at all unusual. It merely requires unusual circumstances or unusual effort to uncover this ability in any of us. The research department here at Moody Institute of Science compiled the data for this chart. It brings together the results of 432 separate experiments conducted by seven prominent psychologists. The awakening times were chosen at random to rule out habit. The bars to the left of center indicate early awakening. Those to the right oversleeping. The high percentage of complete success would seem to be conclusive. There's one case on record of a man who, if he was awakened from a sound sleep, could instantly state the correct time to the nearest minute. Now, this ability is a complete mystery. But it does seem that there is something deep in man's subconscious being that ticks off the seconds and records the passage of time with amazing accuracy. We've become so accustomed to the almost miraculous things accomplished in the human body that nothing seems to surprise us anymore. We just naturally expect great performance from such wonderful beings as we modestly admit we are, don't we? Well, any such attitude that we might have had here at Moody Institute of Science was pretty thoroughly dispelled recently when we discovered some other living alarm clocks. But let me tell you the story. One night, two of our Moody Institute of Science photographers were just outside the town of White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia. As soon as the sun went down, the most amazing thing happened. The whole countryside suddenly started to crawl with strangel looking insects. They weren't here yesterday. They weren't here last year. In fact, residents who had lived in the area for many years could not recall any such visitation. What are these insects? Where did they come from? They all seem to be climbing upward. Where are they going? Soon the clumsy looking insect stops. Each one seems to heed some mysterious signal that this is far enough. With their grotesque claws they search for a spot where a firm grip may be obtained. Sometimes on the bark of the tree, sometimes on the outermost leaves. Here a mysterious and wonderful thing happens. While this is one of the most common phenomena in all nature, it is surprising how few people have actually witnessed the spectacular and awe inspiring event. The drama of insect metamorphosis. The transformation of an earthbound nymph to a beautiful freeflying adult insect. [Music] [Music] [Music] The soft, moist, pale body of the adult insect is now freed from the dead adolescent shroud. In spite of beautiful creamy white coloring, large red eyes, and jet black markings on its shoulders, the adult cicada presents quite a bit appearance. Inflation of the wings will change all this. As they are pumped up, the wings change from useless wrinkled pads to beautiful transparent air foils capable of flight. One cannot but marvel at the beautiful yet functional construction of these wings. A framework of veins for strength, a fragile membrane to provide ample lift for a heavy-bodied insect. Within a few hours, the ghostly whiteness of the new adults has changed to a glossy brownish black. Simultaneously, the soft outer shell hardens to form a strong protective exoskeleton. All of this has happened during the course of a single night. We started with a nymph climbing a tree, and now we have a mature insect outfitted with armor plate, camouflage, and wigs, ready for the serious business of life. The new day dawn. The hordes of insects struggling up the trees have disappeared. But by midm morning, a new sound breaks the contented buzz of the spring wood. This sound is the unique trademark of just one insect, the cicada. If you have ever lived in the eastern half of the United States, the chances are good that you've heard it. What is really mystifying, however, is how a tiny insect like this can make so much noise. Ounce for ounce, he's probably the noisiest creature in the whole world. Only the male makes the sound and he really has the equipment for producing lots of it. When a pie tin is bent, sound is produced. Toy cricket works the same way. Now the noise producing apparatus of the cicada operates on a similar principle. We've constructed an accurate model of a male cicada 15 times life size. We've given him some demountable features so that we could examine this noise producing equipment. The sound organs are located at the junction of the abdomen and the thorax. These are the main sounding drums or timberals. They are strengthened by numerous ribs. The sound is produced when the drum heads are snapped in and out by these powerful muscles. The sound is given a distinctive character by the hollow abdomen which acts as a resonator and by these sound mirrors. When these drum heads start snapping in and out 8,000 times per minute, you really have noise. Just a quiet home in the country to escape the noise and commotion of the city. Oh yes. Well, don't forget Mr. Big Noise, Cicada, incessant noise in the treetops, and on the ground below, a litter of severed branches. Two things always associated with a cicada. The male cicada makes the noise. But when it comes to the fallen branches, mama cicada is the culprit. The branches of the trees are literally covered with punctures made by her oapositor or eggpler. The oapositor is driven into the branch as though the wood were putty and eggs are pumped through the hollow center into the protective fibers of the wood. Removing the outer layers of wood reveals the cicada eggs laid neatly in double rows. After the female deposits 200 to 600 eggs in this way, her life work is complete and she dies. It doesn't seem possible that a delicate insect like this less than an inch in length could drill deeply into the wood with such ease. This is the beautifully contrived secret weapon that makes it possible. The tapered ends of the ovapositor are equipped with saw teeth and with alternating motions, it literally saws its way into the tough woody fibers. A cross-section of the ovapositor, greatly enlarged, reveals a beautiful mechanical structure. The two outer sections terminate in the saw teeth. The center section provides the support. Interlocking joints allow the two saws to move smoothly back and forth while being supported and strengthened throughout their entire length. This hollow space in the center is the pipe through which the eggs pass. This is one of the most beautiful mechanical devices in all nature. Wonderfully fitted for the job to be done. So while Papa Cicada fills the air with his rasping noise, Mama fills the limb with eggs, the consuming zeal with which she goes about her task suggests that this is her ultimate purpose in life. Within a few weeks, the noisy honeymoon is over. Life functions have been faithfully completed. And one by one, the adult cicas fall to the ground as their flame of light flickers and goes out. As suddenly as they appeared, they depart. The future of the species is all wrapped up in those tiny eggs hidden in the branches of the trees. After six or seven weeks, there's a stirring of activity. The newly hatched nymph shakes off the eggshell, drops to the ground, and burrows into the earth, there to remain for 17 long years. Over 200 years of scientific research have revealed that the cicada is the methusela of the insect world, living longer than any other insect. The cicada nymph lives alone in an underground passage several feet below the surface of the earth. As the 17th year of its existence draws to a close, the cicada nymph tunnels upward and stops just a quart of an inch from the surface, there to await a mysterious inner prompting. As soon as the sun goes down on the appointed day, millions and millions of cicada alarm clocks go off all over the eastern half of the United States. Responding to the signal, the cicas pushed their way from their dark prison. Exactly 17 years ago, parents of these cicas were enacting this same role at this very spot. It's rather embarrassing, isn't it? The timekeeping ability of the periodic cicada makes man's mental alarm clock look pretty rusty. At this point in the investigation, it seemed that we might be on the trail of a second truth. So, we decided to carry the investigation one step further into the field of chemistry. Some chemical reactions take place instantaneously. This is glycerin. Looks harmless enough, doesn't it? Of course, if we mix it with nitric acid, it gets a little puffy. That makes nitroglycerin and it's no play thing. Let's take a little potassium per manganate, put in the crucible. And now add some glycerin. Ready? Disappointing, isn't it? But the reaction is taking place just as surely as over here. It's just slower. That's all. The visible evidence of some chemical reaction is a change in color. Let's put some sodium carbonate in some water. and then some phenylene solution. The bright pink color is characteristic of the reaction. The mercuric chloride potassium iodide reaction is an interesting one. The mercuric chloride is in the large beaker here. A solution of potassium iodide first. just a bit of the potassium iodide and we instantly have a very heavy precipitate orange yellow in color. Now the same potassium iodide that formed the precipitate and it instantly clears. Granted an accurate knowledge of the conditions involved, it is possible to predict not only what will happen when certain chemicals are mixed but when it will happen as well. The classic test for the presence of starch is a simple one. Just a bit of ordinary iodine. A little laundry starch, a weak solution of iodine. And as they are brought together, we have the characteristic deep blue color of the iodine starch reaction. If we vary this simple experiment just a bit, we can add another dimension to the reaction. Time. We'll use the iodine and starch again. This time the iodine will be in the form of iotic acid I25. And to the starch we have added some sulfuric acid H2SO3. Now to ensure that the chemicals will mix thoroughly, we'll agitate them violently. Add the starch. More mixing. And nothing happened. Oh, but we haven't prevented the reaction. We've merely delayed it just a bit. Watch the solution carefully. Now, that wasn't an accident. It happened right on schedule. 17 seconds. The chemicals were mixed that way. All right, let's try it again. And this time, make it a little longer. Say 26 seconds. See, according to our figures, that should require 85 ml of the start solution. Measure it as carefully as we can here under these conditions. I think that should do it. Once again, we agitate the solution, add the starch, and start the clock at the same time. Now this is a photoelectric cell relay. It is controlled by the light beam passing through the liquid. When the beam of light is interrupted, the clock will stop. And when the chemical change takes place, it will stop the clock and time the reaction automatically. Watch it carefully. Now there it is. Exactly 26 seconds. It is interesting to observe these clocks and to marvel at them. But how could we explain them? How would you explain the alarm clock in the human brain? Some people would say, "Well, man is a wonderful creature with a highly developed intelligence." But how about the cicada? Well, it's rather embarrassing, but he's probably smart, too. How about the chemicals? Are they smart? Obviously, that can't be the answer. As we go from the chemicals through the cicada to man, we are ascending a scale of intelligence. It is interesting to note, however, that as we ascend the scale of creature intelligence, we also descend another scale, that of accuracy and dependability. Man's mental clock is much less reliable than the cicas. And even the cicada can't match the chemicals. The chemicals are completely dependable because they are completely subject to God's law. Did you ever stop to think what this world would be like if the chemicals were not dependable? I'd hate to walk into a chemistry laboratory and try to perform an experiment. If chemical behavior were no more predictable than human behavior, we couldn't take a drink of water nor draw a breath of air with any safety or certainty. We're fortunate indeed that the chemicals obey the law of God. But how about man? The submission of the chemicals to the law of God is a blind, involuntary thing. Man, on the other hand, has a mind, a will, and a God-given power of choice. He can submit his will to the will of God, or he can choose to defy God, go his own way, and defy his laws. But how smart is it for a man to disobey the God that created him? Is it a mark of intelligence? Some seem to feel it is. In a criminal society composed of those who defy human law, disobedience to the law is sometimes considered a mark of distinction and obedience a sign of weakness. Today there is a segment of intellectual society that seems to feel that obedience to God's moral and spiritual law is a sign of weakness and that simple faith and humble submission to his will is somehow intellectually degrading. And yet down through the centuries there comes the quiet voice of one who says, "I came not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me." In this age, when some have almost deified the human intellect, there are those who say, "I will trust nothing but myself. I will follow my reason regardless of where it leads me." And again that quiet voice, there is a way that seemth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Today man is frantically searching for a solution to his problem. But isn't the first step a recognition of what the problem is? And I wonder, isn't the problem right here before us and the things that we've been considering? Unlike the chemicals, man has a will of his own. He can choose to obey God's law or defy it. Here are two liquids. This is water. This a deadly poison. Now I have a power of choice. I can drink the water or the poison. But right here, my power of choice stops. I can't choose the result. The result is fixed by laws that are immutable and inviolent. We have another choice, you and I. We can choose to believe God and obey him or we can go our own way in unbelief. But here again, we can't choose the result. It is fixed by the eternal law of God who says, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.