Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx) ~ Protect Your Head

There was a time when i could not sleep.  Each night when my head hit the pillow, a heatstorm of fearful thoughts began billowing up in my psyche.  i would worry about the following day, and i would regret the previous one.  i'd analyze, reanalyze, and re-reanalyze until i felt sick.  And over all of these thoughts hung a burning orb of anxiety.

 I recently read a beautiful bit of literature out of South Africa.  In low latitude deserts, daily air temperature may reach 50ºC (122ºF), with surface temperatures reaching 70ºC (158ºF)!  A normal mammalian response to such heats would be sweating, panting, or licking its body.  These responses are called “evaporative cooling”, but such responses are impossible for desert mammals because they would dry up like a furry raisin in a matter of hours!  So how do they dump heat without dumping water?  The Oryx of Saudi Arabia has an answer.

Temperatures above 43ºC cause brain damage.  Yet the Oryx sustains heat of up to 45ºC (113ºF)!  How is this possible?  The answer is countercurrent heat exchange, a process by which hot blood coming up from the heart passes cold venous blood returning from nasal passages.  While blood coming up from the heart is about 43ºC, it cools to only 40ºC before passing through the brain.  Thus the tissues in the brain are protected, and normal thinking is allowed to persist (though what does an Oryx think about all day?)  This is called ‘selective brain cooling’, and it’s very handy in a large fuzzy ungulate such as the Oryx.

Protecting the mind is not just important in biology.  This theme comes up dozens of times in the Bible.  For instance, 1 Peter 1v13 encourages us to protect our minds so that we may sustain our hope.  But how do we protect our minds?  What countercurrent exchange might we employ spiritually when the heat of doubt and fear press in around us?

Isaiah 26v3: God keeps us our minds in perfect peace when we trust in Christ.

2 Corinthians 10v15: bring every thought captive to obedience of Christ.

Philippians 4v7: Peace will keep your mind steadfast through Christ Jesus.

Trusting in Christ is our countercurrent exchange, the power that keeps our minds steadfast when despair threatens to burn away our faith.  Though we are guaranteed troubles in this world, we have been equipped to face circumstances through the power of Christ!


Check out the article!

Selective brain cooling in Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx): a physiological mechanism for coping with aridity? - ResearchGate. Available from: http://www.researchgate.net/publication/230685955_Selective_brain_cooling_in_Arabian_oryx_(Oryx_leucoryx)_a_physiological_mechanism_for_coping_with_aridity [accessed Apr 20, 2015].

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