During this time of the devastating COVID-19 pandemic, medical science is seeking a vaccine as well as drugs that will treat the symptoms. In the meantime, much has been reported on the ventilator, a lifesaving device that is used on the most serious cases.

Springtime, in many places—especially Texas—is a very active time for birds.¹ Nests are built. Mating and egg incubation leads to raising hatchlings. Before long, those hatchlings become fledglings. Bird life goes on—birds are fruitful, multiply, and fill their special niches on Earth.²

Earth has experienced terrible pandemics before coronavirus.

Earlier this month, as archaeologists were researching an old Viking trade route in central Norway, they reminded us that Eurasia’s “Black Death” plague previously blanketed many Nordic countries about 600 years ago.^{1, 2}

Although details differ according to where you are, it is often quieter these days due to stay-at-home restrictions on normally noisy human activities. Less loudness and more calmness—some of that can be good¹—yet ongoing economic shutdowns can cripple or crush curtailed livelihoods. So it’s calmer now, but not completely silent.

Bats have been in the news lately,¹ but bats themselves are not new—they were created on Day 5 of Creation Week, along with other flying creatures.

Bats are a large and fascinating group of flying mammals. They include 1,240 species. Not surprisingly, the fossil record shows bats have always been bats. They suddenly appear in a most un-Darwinian manner.