the mystery of life

and the smelly socks of joey sparks from regal park

 Jan Paul Schutten

The Mystery of Life

and the Smelly Socks of Joey Spark from Regal Park
— Illustrated by Floor Rieder —

Gottmer Publishing Group

Haarlem, The Netherlands
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE 10
Before We Really Get Started, There’s This
11
SECTION 1: WONDERS, BRAIN TWISTERS, MYSTERIES AND YOU 13
why does the paramecium (slipper animalcule) deserve a standing ovation? 14
What can a slipper animalcule do that the smartest robot can’t? 15
simple cells? 16
How many cells does it take to build a body? 17
What kinds of stuff happens in your body to keep you healthy? 17
minuscule miracles 18
What do bacteria look like? 19
How do bacteria taste? 19
Do bacteria also deserve a round of applause? 19
the black monster and death 20
What is sadder than death? 21
Is there anything that works better than nature? 21
and now: one more wonder 22
Where did you come from? 22
Who made nature work so perfectly? 23
Who can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt how life originated? 23
SECTION 2: HOW OLD IS PLANET EARTH? 25
memorizing two, dividing six, multiplying by three…
then god must have been finished at six o’clock 26
Four thousand or four billion years before christ? 27
How did seashells end up on top of a mountain? 27
how can you determine how old a stone is? 28
Exactly how old is the earth? 29
Does stone decay or spoil? 29
How did we go about proving how old the earth is? 29
how old is the universe? 30
How is the age of the universe calculated? 31
How long does it take a ray of sunshine to travel to earth? 31
SECTION 3: THE HISTORY OF EVERYTHING IN 1609 WORDS 33
how did the universe come to be? 34
Did atoms and molecules always exist? 35
How do you build a planet? 35
Where did the moon come from? 35
what was a day on earth like eons ago? 36
How come life originated in the sea? 37

— 5
 How long did it take until there was life on earth? 37 How can you make life in a test tube? 73
And how long have people existed? 37 What is dna and why do you always come across it in tv cop shows? 73
Do you know everything there is to know now? 37 how do you build a joey spark from regal park 74
SECTION 4: THE BEST SCIENTIFIC IDEA OF ALL TIME 39 Which came first: the chicken or the egg? 75
what is the theory of evolution exactly and who came up with it? 40 Has the chicken vs. The egg question been resolved? 75
A doctor who is afraid of blood? 41 how can you ‘breath life’ into matter all by yourself? 76
Where did all these species come from? 41 Is salt alive? 77
how do you make a seventy kilo dog? 42 what did the first life on earth look like? 78
Do you have the same ancestors as an earwig? 43 Looking at creatures older than dinosaurs? 79
Which animals are survivors and which die? 43 Does the earth ever have a weight problem? 79
how do you turn one finch into two finches? 44 Did life on earth actually begin on earth? 79
Does all life on earth have a common ancestor? 45 SECTION 8: SURVIVING IN A PRIMORDIAL OCEAN 81
Why did it take Darwin twenty years to write his well-known book? 45 where did life on earth actually begin? 82
did people think darwin was crazy? 46 (1) Did life begin in boiling pools of mud and water? 83
Does everyone believe Darwin now? 47 (2) Or was it actually on the ocean f loor? 84
Do all species constantly improve? 47 (3) Or did it begin deep underground? 84
SECTION 5: A BRIEF LOOK AT EVOLUTION 49 was there anything new under the sun? 86
how does a new species come to exist? 50 Mole holes millions of years old?! 87
Why do some species evolve faster than others? 51 Who were the biggest polluters on earth? 87
huh? how is it suddenly possible that not the best and fittest survive? 52 how does a bacterium turn into a blue whale? 88
Does a tree want to be tall? 53 What happens when you put a sponge in a meat grinder? 89
Why do rabbits have bad eyes? 53 how to make a plaster cast of a big blob of spit? 90
did evolution make a mistake? 54 How does a jellyfish become a fossil? 91
Are women crazy? 55 what inventions have made life what it is today? 92
If you’re a bird how can you fake looking bigger? 55 How can you survive without a rear end? 93
why do women want to have the children of murderous morons? 56 How can you survive without sex? 93
Why does a peacock have such a long tail? 57 how has sex changed the world? 94
How come the Irish elk is extinct? 57 Is it possible for people to survive without killing each other? 94
why aren’t people perfect, in spite of millions of years of evolution? 58 what would a zoo from 550 million years ago have looked like? 96
How come women get more beautiful by the day and men don’t? 59 what was the most successful animal in the past? 98
How do you become a super rabbit? 59 So who wiped out the trilobite? 99
SECTION 6: IT’S ALL ABOUT FAMILY 61 which marine animal do we originate from? 100
what are genes and why do they rule the earth? 62 Are we really descendants of the slime mold? 101
Did Darwin get it wrong? 63 SECTION 9: HALF MAN - HALF FISH 103
Which animal actually wants to die? 63 how do you change from a fish to a four-footed animal? 104
why are genes so important? 64 How special is a fish with lungs? 105
Will Leo Messi’s son also be a brilliant football player when he grows up? 65 How do gills turn into lungs? 105
What do genes actually do? 65 And how does a fish develop legs? 105
why is dying sometimes the sensible thing to do? 66 and before we go any further, my humble apologies 106
Is there anything more important than your own life? 66 Why do we use fossils to write on a blackboard? 107
SECTION 7: HOW DID LIFE ON EARTH ORIGINATE 69 If you dig deep enough, will you always come across fossils? 107
what is the secret of frankenstein? 70 why do you find the same types of stones in america as in africa? 108
What is life? 71 Did palm trees ever grow in the Arctic Circle? 109
Where did the first living creature on earth come from? 71 Were mammoths able to swim from the netherlands to england? 109
what was the secret of the first life on earth? 72 How old is the paw print of Tyrannosaurus rex? 109

6 — — 7
 where can you find the best fossils? 110 Long live nature? 137
How do you find amphibian fossils or fish fossils? 110 Why doesn’t a shark get the hiccups, but you do? 137
What tools do you need to find fossils? 110 Why do fish work on our nerves? 138
And..? Has the fossil to end all fossils already been found? 111 Why do we get goosebumps? 138
does joey spark really have something in common with a shark? 112 ‘and how about that bombardier beetle? or the eye?’ 140
Does Joey Spark from regal park have Tiktaalik’s arm? 113 Are there actually beetles that have their own anti-aircraft guns? 140
Why does a horse’s hoof look like a person’s hand? 113 What is the secret of the bombardier beetle? 141
Do we hear with shark gills? 113 Why is the bombardier beetle proof of evolution? 141
why did you once look like a mackerel? 114 What’s the point of having weapons in paradise? 141
Why do all ‘babies’ look alike? 115 what’s wrong with your eyes? 142
Where does that funny groove under your nose come from? 115 The reason our eyes work so well 142
Why does Tweety have such a big head? 115 Where did your eyes come from? 142
how does a cell know how to grow into a tooth, nose, or toe? 116 How would you design an eye? 143
What can you best compare dna to? 116 Are we not allowed to see well? 143
Can the cells in your body talk to each other? 117 SECTION 11: FROM MOUSE TO MAN 145
How do you make a bug with extra wings? 117 what did our ancestors look like? 146
what can a virus tell us about the past? 118 Which animal do you resemble most? 147
What happens when someone has a sneezing fit three metres away from you? 119 Why do we know so little about our ancestors? 147
Did apes have the same f lu as we do? 119 are we descendants of lucy? 148
why does a cow look more like a whale than a horse? 120 How can you tell from a skull if an animal walked upright? 149
How come a butterf ly looks so much like a bird? 121 Why is walking upright so important? 149
Can a praying mantis play the violin? 121 Why are we so smart and they’re not? 149
and what else happened to the fish in us? 122 can anthropoid apes become just as smart as we are? 150
Is a sandpiper a distant cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex? 123 What sorts of fossils have been found? 151
Mammals don’t lay eggs, right? 123 Why do we know so little despite all the fossils we have? 151
what wiped out the dinosaurs? 124 have scientists found eve? 152
Why don’t humans hatch from eggs? 124 Do you have Neanderthal blood? 152
How deadly can a meteorite be? 125 Did Eve actually exist? 153
From mouse to man? 125 What will our great-grandchildren look like down the line? 153
SECTION 10: HAS THE STORY OF EVOLUTION REALLY BEEN PROVEN? 127 is there alien life? and what does it look like? 154
evolution: sense or nonsense? 128 Why would aliens most likely be meat-eaters? 155
Do all scientists believe in evolution? 129 Will aliens live to be ten thousand years old? 155
‘the theory of evolution is a theory. therefore evolution is not AND IN CLOSING… 156
a proven fact’ 130 Can you tell from just looking at someone’s brain if they’re religious? 157
Which animal will survive the longest on earth? 131 Are scientists not telling us everything?
Why isn’t Tiktaalik good enough evidence for some people? 131 INDEX 158
Are there really werewolves and ostrich people? 132
Are you a descendant of Genghis Khan? 132
How can you yourself see evolution at work? 133
Can a lizard species change within just thirty-six years? 134
What boring experiment took twenty years? 134
And was that experiment really worth it? 135
What do bacteria tell us about the theory of evolution? 135
‘nature is such a perfect wonder, it must have been created by a god’ 136
For whom do sheep die a slow and painful death? 137

8— — 9
 PREFACE
B EFORE WE REALLY GET STARTED,
THERE’S THIS…
hundred billion brain cells and there are trillions of
bacteria in your body. But can you actually grasp how
big these numbers really are?
You’ll sometimes come across huge numbers in this
book. Numbers that are so immense that it’s impos- The number table below translates these figures into
sible to even imagine how immense they actually are. time, to give you some understanding of what all

F or approximately ten billion years an amazingly hot, hissing and bubbling planet rotated in peace
around the sun. Then something strange happened. In the midst of all that hissing and gurgling, life
originated. Just like that. Though nobody knows exactly how. But we do know what happened next. All
For instance, one of the heroes in this book, Tiktaa- these millions, billions and trillions exactly mean.
lik, lived around 370 million years ago. You have one

kinds of microscopically small matter covered the planet in purple, yellow and white slimy blobs. This li-
ving slime thrived in lukewarm pools of mud, at the edge of seas or in small cavities in the hardened lava of
volcanoes. It must have stunk something awful: like sulphur and rotten eggs, stinky farts and smelly socks. 1000 (thousand) seconds equals 16 minutes and 40
But other living things slowly developed from that slime. Worms and snails, fungi and algae. And since that seconds.
time long ago, the surface of our planet – which we call the Earth – has teemed with all sorts of life
10.000 (ten thousand) seconds equals 2 hours, 46 minutes
Four billion years after the first life appeared in the form of bacteria, people were running around on this and 40 seconds.
planet. People are animals, but a very unique sort: they’re the only animals with the ability to think about
difficult questions: Which socks should I wear today? What will the weather be like tomorrow? Why is water 100.000 (hundred thousand) secondes equals 1 day, 3 hours
so wet? How did life originate? And all the animals and plants: how did they come to exist? And what about and 47 minutes.
people: where did they come from? It’s usually children who ask questions like these (adults are more in-
clined to think, yeah right…). Children are curious about stuff; they want to know everything. But lucky for 1.000.000 (one million) seconds equals 11 days, 13 hours
us, there are also adults who are curious about stuff. They study to be scientists and researchers and try to fi- and 47 minutes.
gure out why everything is the way it is. A physicist can explain why water is wet. A biologist can tell you why
a worm is alive and a stone isn’t, or what makes farts stink. And a palaeontologist can figure out exactly how 1.000.000.000 (one billion) seconds equals 31 years and 8 months.
big the back foot of Tyrannosaurus rex was. This is why we understand more and more about the world around
us. We now know precisely how old the universe is and also how old the earth is, how animals and plants
came into existence over the course of millions of years and why the cow is a distant cousin of the whale – 1.000.000.000.000 (one trillion) seconds equals 31.710 years.
and not of the horse.

But then there’s explaining it all: researchers are really good at investigating difficult sorts of things, but 1.000.000.000.000.000 (one quadrillion) seconds equals 31.710.000 years.
explaining something difficult is a whole other story. For that you need journalists or writers: somebody
like Jan Paul Schutten, who has a gift for explaining the most complicated stuff. And he describes so many
complicated things in this book that perhaps you’ll have to read it a few more times before you understand 1.000.000.000.000.000.000 (one quintillion) seconds equals… an awful long
everything. But, what’s even more important, he also explains in this book that there are things we still time. Especially when you can’t reach that itching
don’t know. We still don’t completely understand how life arose. Was it something spontaneous? Did it spot on your back.
come whooshing to earth from outer space? Or perhaps it was created by a god? So there are still uncertain-
ties about a bunch of scientific issues. But that’s exactly what makes science such fun: that you can continue
to be curious about things and can always think up new questions to ask. What is beyond the end of the uni-
verse? How many years will the sun keep shining? If birds are actually dinosaurs, then are dinosaurs really
extinct? Where on the earth did the first modern human being live? And last but not least: do you think this
book is as much fun as I do?

Jelle Reumer, director

Het Natuurhistorisch, Rotterdam

10 — — 11
 DEEL 1

— section 1 —

WONDERS, BRAIN TWISTERS,

MYSTERIES AND YOU
 — section 1 — • wonders, braintwisters, mysteries and you •

WHY DOES THE PARAMECIUM (SLIPPER W HAT CAN A SLIPPER ANIMALCULE DO

THAT THE SMARTEST ROBOT CAN’T?

ANIMALCULE ) DESERVE A STANDING OVATION? Even if slipper animalcule can’t do as much as Pro-
fessor Scharfe’s robot, it can do one thing a machine
will never be able to do – die. Of course, a robot

L et’s rise to our feet and give slipper animalcule a round of applause! Come again?! You heard me, for the
paramecium – known to his friends as slipper animalcule – a creature smaller than the dot on this i.
I suppose you have your reasons for clapping? Is this creature really so special? Yes, a paramecium deserves a thunder-
might break down, but that’s completely different.
Something that’s broken can usually be repaired.
But it’s an entirely different story to breathe life into
ous round of applause simply because it’s alive. That’s more of an accomplishment than you think! And I’ll something when it’s dead. Life is special, even if
tell you why. trillions of creatures have already lived on the earth
by now.

So a paramecium is alive and a robot isn’t – that’s

the biggest difference. But they also share similari-
ties. One of these is that they are both made of dead
things. Everything you see – and even everything
you don’t see – is composed of atoms. These are very
small building blocks from which everything in the
universe is made. From paramecia to trees, stars,
planets, hats, your favourite uncle, cucumbers, the
smelly socks of Joey Spark from Regal Park, clouds,
cream puffs and robots. Yes, even Lady Gaga is made
of atoms. And these atoms are all ‘dead as a door-
nail’: as dead as a brick, a lump of clay or a piece of
Lego. Then how is it possible that life arose from
all these dead atoms? How did life on earth origi-
nate? Where did paramecia come from? Where do we
come from? Might there be life other places in the
universe? You’ll find the answers to these and many
more questions in this book!

A Danish professor named Henrik Scharfe has built a robot that looks exactly like him. When the profes-
sor and his robot are together, you have to look twice before you can tell which one is the man and which
the machine. At this moment, the robot still can’t do very much. He moves a little and looks like his crea-
tor’s twin brother. But that’s about it. He can’t even talk. Still, I’ll eat my hat if one day there isn’t a robot
that not only looks exactly like a human being, but gives intelligent answers to your questions and can even
play football with you. Within thirty years, we’ll probably have accumulated enough knowledge to make just
such a robot. But making a paramecium? That’s a thousand times harder.

Our tiny friend slipper animalcule also can’t do very much. It swims a bit: does the breast stroke with its tiny
hairs. It likes to drink dirty ditch water and eat the bacteria it finds there. Later it pees out that water again
– well, peeing… it’s more like sweating. It can have sex with another slipper animalcule. It can divide itself,
resulting in two creatures. And furthermore, it can, uh… do little of anything.

14 — — 15
 — section 1 — • wonders, braintwisters, mysteries and you •

THE BLACK MONSTER W HAT WOULD BE SADDER

THAN DYING? W HAT FUNCTIONS BETTER
THAN NATURE?

AND DEATH Just imagine what would happen if no fish at all Not even the smartest people in the world would be
would die. Now that would be sad! able to invent something that functions better than
A fish will easily spawn about a hundred eggs every nature. Indeed, worse still, when people interfere

T here are many bacteria and they come in all shapes and sizes. There even exist some luminous bacteria!
Some predator fish in the sea could not exist without those bacteria. For example, the deep sea an-
gling fish. They are monstrous fish, with a thorn on top of their heads, and at the top of the thorn there is a
year, which would produce a hundred fish. Should
those fish produce their offspring, then that would
mean a hundred times one hundred: ten thousand.
with animals and plants, they make a mess of it. In
gardens, animal parks and aquariums the staff has
to work very hard to keep everything healthy and
small pocket with luminous bacteria, almost like a wobbling little lantern. This would be of no use in clear And if they all produce offspring, there will be a alive: animals must be fed, plants must be watered,
shallow waters, but these fish live way down under the sea level. So far down that even the sunlight cannot million. And that in only three years! After another weeds must be pulled out, this work just keeps go-
penetrate the darkness. It is darker than a moonless night in an abandoned coal-pit, but those little lights, year there would be ten billion fish and after another ing on and on. In the woods, the rain forests and the
they can be seen down there. The angling fish happily swim along, waving their lights. And that is how they year there would be hmm…well…a lot more. Within oceans everything takes care of itself. Day in day out.
attract all kinds of inquisitive little fish. However, these little fish will never know what kind of light they are ten years there would be so many fish that the whole During the summer, autumn, winter and spring. The
attracted to, because, as soon as they come close to the open mouth of the fish, those angling fish will suck planet would be covered with a layer of fish and fish way nature works is a real miracle.
them straight into their stomach at an amazing speed. eggs several meters high. Of course that would be
Sad? Yes. But the same applies to all game (that’s how animals, eaten by other animals are called). impossible.

Therefore it is good that animals will eventually die.

At times it is because of old age, just as it happens to
people. But there are no walking frames for fish, no
dentures, nor are there homes for the elderly. There-
fore, an early death because of beasts of prey may be
better than a rickety life. Looking at it that way, na-
ture works perfectly: slipper animalcule will eat bac-
teria, young and small fish will eat slipper animal-
cule, fish of prey will eat small fish, and so on. That
is the way animals maintain the balance and there
will never be long periods when there are too many
animals of one particular species. It has worked
that way for hundreds of millions of years. Also, if
nature were different, neither you not I would ever
have existed. One would almost shout out “Long live
nature!”

20 — — 21
 — section 1 — • wonders, braintwisters, mysteries and you •

JUST ONE MORE MIRACLE

J ust one more miracle and then we will really start this book. We are, all of us, a miracle. You, me, Joey
Spark from Regal Park, and furthermore everything and everyone that has ever been born. But let us first
talk about you. How old are you? Somewhere around ten or twelve years old? Whatever your age, we should
ers turned into bone; that hardly visible little meat
ball became a small human being. All of a sudden
you had a front, back, upper and lower part.
actually add another few decades. Because one minute fraction of you existed even before you mother was After three weeks you were no bigger than a grain of
lying in her cradle! rice. But all the same you had reached a milestone:
The fact of the matter is that you have come from one of your mother’s egg-cells. And this cell was already in your heart started to beat for the first time! And if
her body for several weeks before she was born. About nine months before you were born this cell was fer- all goes well, it will continue to beat for more or
tilized by one of your father’s sperm cells. Officially, you existed as of that moment – even if you were at that less 800 million times. One week later, little by lit-
time nothing but one single cell. tle, small stumps appeared, which would grow into
arms and legs. Gradually everything else started to
grow. When you were twelve weeks old you almost
looked like a real baby. However, you were still too
small to be able to live outside your mother’s womb.
Especially the brain needed to grow. During that
growing process about 8000 brain cells per second
were added. Therefore, by the time you were born,
in comparison to the rest of your body, your head
cided which creatures the earth needed and then said
their names. And as soon as he had spoken those
names the creatures existed. The Mayas believed
that all life on earth was created by the gods Tepeu
and Gucumatz. They thought of all the animals and
plants, and they were convinced they had done well.
The gods in fact wanted some appreciation for their
creation. Therefore they created people who could
honour their creation. The Christians, Jewish and Is-
lamic believe that there is only one god that has cre-
ated it all, and all that in six days. Also in their belief
the last creatures were people: Adam and Eve. And
there are many, many other stories of the Creation.
W HO CAN PROVE HOW LIFE HAS COME
INTO BEING?

seemed to be too big. In bygone days very few people on earth doubted that
all living animals, trees and plants had been created

N OW WHO HAS BEEN ABLE TO CREATE

NATURE SO PERFECT?
by the gods. Still there were all those nations and
races with their own religions and their own stories
of the Creation, clearly not agreeing with the oth-
After about nine months the time had come: you ers. The stories were poles apart. And that is still the
were born. You were complete. Ready. Perfect. Out case. You ask tens of persons, each of them believing
of this one cell a little human being was created. in their own religion, how life on earth was created,
But how did this cell know that it had to multiply? and you will get just as many different replies.
How did some of the cells know that they had to
become a heart, a lung, a right nostril or a left little
But who is right? Not one of the various religions
finger? Can that be anything but a real miracle? And have proof of their story of the Creation. There-
this does not only apply to you, it applies to all liv-
fore, scientists decided to investigate the whys and
ing things. Because how come that all animals and wherefores of life on earth and elsewhere. And that
plants came into being just like that? Who created is what this book is about. How was life created
nature so perfect? according to them? How did they find out all their

H OW DID YOU COME INTO BEING?
And then it happened. The cell divided and thereby
multiplied. And again. And once again. Two cells
became 4, eight, sixteen, thirty-two cells and so on.
This continued for days on end. You were a micro-
scopic little meat ball of dividing cells.
After about fourteen days again something very
special occurred. The cells did not just divide, they
seemed to plan something special. Some of the cells
became your heart, others created the brain and oth-
knowledge and information? And, at least as impor-
Each and every race and tribe in the world have asked tant as all that: Are the scientists able to really prove
this same question. And they all came up with the their interpretation?
same answer: it must have been devised and struc-
tured by a god. The Egyptians, for example, thought
that all was created thanks to the god Ptah. He de-

22 — — 23