Category: Life Sciences

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post

Author
James Tour

Date
February 1, 2023

Categorized
Faith and Science, Life Sciences

Tagged
Academic Freedom, amino acids, carbohydrates, cell, cellular complexity, chemical evolution, DNA, Eric Metaxas, Harold Urey, homochirality, James Tour, life, lipids, membrane, Miller-Urey experiment, origin of life, origin-of-life mystery, philosophical materialism, prebiotic chemistry, protocells, protoplasm, research funding, RNA, self-reproduction, Stanley Miller, vesicles}

James Tour: The Goalposts are Racing Away from the Origin-of-Life Community

_{James Tour

February 1, 2023

Faith and Science, Life Sciences}

On today’s ID the Future distinguished nanoscientist James Tour explains to host Eric Metaxas why the origin-of-life community is further than ever from solving the mystery of life’s origin, and how the public has gotten the false impression that scientists can synthesize life in the lab. Tour explains that origin-of-life scientists aren’t even close to intelligently synthesizing life from non-life in the lab. The problem, Tour says, is that some leading origin-of-life researchers give the impression they are right on the cusp of solving the problem. Not so, Tour says. He offers the analogy of someone claiming, in the year 1500, that he has the know-how to build a ship to travel to the moon, when no one yet knows Read More ›

Ribosome translating mRNA into a polypeptide chain

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post

Author
Paul Nelson

Date
November 16, 2022

Categorized
Life Sciences

Tagged
AF2, AlphaFold, AlphaFold 2, amino acid sequence space, amino acids, chaperone complex, David Berlinski, Deep Mind, Eric Anderson, Evolution, genetic information, Google’s DeepMind, Horace Freeland Judson, Horace Judson, intrinsically disordered proteins, Jacques Monod, Neo-Darwinism, orphan genes, orphan proteins, Paul Nelson, phylogenetics, protein folding, protein folding problem, ribosome, Shakespeare, taxonomically restricted genes, The Eighth Day of Creation, x-ray crystallography}

Orphan Proteins Spell Trouble for AlphaFold 2

_{Paul Nelson

November 16, 2022

Life Sciences}

On this ID the Future, philosopher of biology Paul Nelson further explores AlphaFold 2, a cutting edge computer program from Google’s DeepMind designed to rapidly suss out important secrets in the realm of proteins, indispensable molecular biological workhorses that come in thousands of different shapes and sizes. Nelson enthuses about AlphaFold 2 but also explains why he is convinced that AlphaFold’s creators have hit a series of immovable obstacles. The watchword here—orphans. Tune in to learn what these mischievous orphan proteins are about, and what they suggest for AlphaFold, evolution, and intelligent design.

Chain of amino acid or bio molecules called protein - 3d illustration

^{Type
post

Author
Paul Nelson

Date
November 14, 2022

Categorized
Life Sciences

Tagged
Alphabet, AlphaFold, AlphaFold 2, amino acids, Artificial Intelligence, central dogma, codons, cognates, DeepMind, DNA, DNA R Us, Eric Anderson, eukaryotes, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Google, homo sapiens proteome, human genome project, Intelligent Design, introns, language evolution, large subunit of ribosome, Machine learning, messenger RNA, natural language, Paul Nelson, peptide bonds, prokaryotes, protein 3D shape, protein folding, protein folding problem, proteome, ribosome, Romance languages, Watson and Crick}

Powerful Protein Folding Algorithm AlphaFold Foiled by Singletons

_{Paul Nelson

November 14, 2022

Life Sciences}

Today’s ID the Future spotlights AlphaFold, an artificial intelligence program in the news for its impressive breakthroughs at predicting a protein’s 3D structure from its amino acid sequence. Philosopher of Biology Paul Nelson walks listeners through the importance of this “amazing breakthrough,” as he describes it in a recent Evolution News article; but don’t uncork the champagne bottles just yet. The reason, according to Nelson, is that while proteins, protein sequences, and protein folding promise to reveal much that is still mysterious in molecular biology, we now know that biological information involves far more than just an organism’s proteome—that is, far more than the full suite of proteins expressed by an organism. Nelson uses analogies to manmade machines and cognates Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Emily Reeves

Date
October 19, 2022

Categorized
Life Sciences

Tagged
Barry Allen, big gata, biological reductionism, complex systems, emergence, Evolution, hierarchical integration, hierarchical organization, integration signaling, irreducible complexity, systems biology, systems biology revolution, wholism}

Emily Reeves: The Systems Biology Revolution

_{Emily Reeves

October 19, 2022

Life Sciences}

On today’s ID the Future, biochemist and metabolic nutritionist Emily Reeves tells the story of the systems biology revolution, why it is intelligent-design friendly, and why it is overturning Darwinian reductionism. This presentation was taped at the 2022 Westminster Conference on Science and Faith in the greater Philadelphia area, which was jointly sponsored by Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture and Westminster Theological Seminary.

Tuskless female elephant with trunk in mouth

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post

Author
Michael Behe

Date
August 22, 2022

Categorized
Life Sciences

Tagged
complex specified information, Design, devolution, elephants, Evolution, eye, Intelligent Design, lactase persistence, lactose intolerance, malaria, malarial proteins, Michael Behe, Microevolution, milk consumption, Nature Microbiology, pfhrp2, pfhrp3, Plasmodium falciparum, purpose, specified complexity, tuskless elephants, tusks}

Michael Behe: Evolution, Devolution, Design

_{Michael Behe

August 22, 2022

Life Sciences}

Today’s ID the Future features three recent Evolution News essays by Lehigh University biology professor and Darwin Devolves author Michael Behe, as read by host Andrew McDiarmid. In the first, nothing shows the feebleness of Darwinism quite so much as breathless stories about new results that turn out to be much ado about nothing. In this case, it’s some recent speculation about the rise of “lactase persistence” in many human adults. Then it’s onto malaria, much beloved of evolutionists, not for its lethality but as a demonstration of evolution in action. But Behe dissects the latest news story on the topic to show that the touted malaria evolution is, once again, malaria gnawing off the proverbial leg to achieve a Read More ›

Messor Barbarus harvester ants cutting a green plant. High quality photo

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post

Author
Eric Cassell

Date
July 6, 2022

Categorized
Life Sciences

Tagged
algorithms, Animal Algorithms, ant colonies, ant foraging, blood clotting, Darwinism, Eric Cassell, Evolution, feedback control mechanisms, harvester ants, insect colonies, Intelligent Design, Journal of the Royal Society Interface, negative feedback systems, positive feedback systems, social insects, Stanford University}

Evolution Challenge: The Harvester Ant Foraging Algorithm

_{Eric Cassell

July 6, 2022

Life Sciences}

On this ID the Future, Animal Algorithms author Eric Cassell explores an algorithm in the brains of harvester ants that adjusts their foraging strategy based on how available food is in their environment, thereby guiding the harvester ants toward more efficient foraging. Cassell builds off a March 2022 article in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface to explain how the algorithm in the ant’s tiny brain involves a sophisticated feedback control mechanism that includes both positive and negative feedback systems. As he further notes in the episode and in an article at Evolution News, a mathematical model of the harvester ants’ foraging behavior by Stanford University scientists confirms the control algorithm is largely optimized. Cassell’s recent book, Animal Algorithms, Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Eric Cassell

Date
November 10, 2021

Categorized
Life Sciences

Tagged
algorithms, altruism, Animal Algorithms, animal colonies, ants, bees, Biological Information, castes, complex programmed behavior, Darwinian Evolution, Darwinism, division of labor, drone swarms, drones, Eric Cassell, eusocial, inclusive fitness, insect genomes, insect social behavior, insect social colonies, instincts, Naturalism, Neo-Darwinism, novel genes, ORFans, orphan genes, pheromones, queen, Robert J. Marks, superorganisms, swarm intelligence, swarms, taxonomically restricted genes, termites}

Amazing Insect Colonies vs. Evolution

_{Eric Cassell

November 10, 2021

Life Sciences}

On today’s ID the Future, Animal Algorithms author Eric Cassell delves into another fascinating portion of his new book, the programmed social behaviors of colony insects and the challenge these instinctive behaviors pose for modern evolutionary theory. Cassell and host Robert J. Marks discuss the complex caste system of these colonies, the impressive signaling systems they use to communicate, and how technologists study these tiny-brained creatures to learn tricks for developing and improving drone swarm technology. How could a mindless evolutionary process have evolved these sophisticated colonies, where various castes appear essential to the functioning and survival of the colony, and possess their division-of-labor skills instinctively? Some colony members also behave altruistically, a fact that Charles Darwin himself conceded posed Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Guillermo Gonzalez

Date
November 8, 2021

Categorized
Life Sciences

Tagged
abiogenesis, binary star systems, Casey Luskin, Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith, Guillermo Gonzalez, interstellar panspermia, interstellar transport times, Jupiter, Lord Kelvin, meteor impacts, Milky Way, moon, origin of life, panspermia, planet Earth, Svante Arrhenius, undirected panspermia}

It Came from Outer Space? Astrobiologist: Not Likely

_{Guillermo Gonzalez

November 8, 2021

Life Sciences}

On today’s ID the Future astrobiologist Guillermo Gonzalez and host Casey Luskin discuss the idea of undirected panspermia. Gonzalez explains the basic idea and what the best current evidence says about its plausibility. The occasion is his chapter on panspermia in the new anthology A Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith, co-edited by Casey Luskin, associate director of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. Undirected panspermia is the idea that the first life on our planet came from outer space, carried by chance processes from a faraway living planet on space dust, asteroids, or comets either from within our solar system, or from another star system to here. The idea of panspermia was inspired by the extreme difficulty of Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Eric Cassell

Date
November 3, 2021

Categorized
Life Sciences

Tagged
aircraft navigation, algorithms, Animal Algorithms, animal migration, arctic tern, bird navigation, celestial navigation, chemotaxis, complex integrated systems, complex programmed behaviors, Darwinian Evolution, dead reckoning, desert ant, Eric Cassell, Evolution, FAA, GPS, great circle routes, homing pigeon, honey bees, instinct, Intelligent Design, magnetic compass, monarch butterflies, NASA, neural networks, odometer, path navigation, polarization, polarized light, pole star, Robert J. Marks, spherical geometry, sun compass, sun stone, Vikings}

New Book Spotlights High Tech Animal Navigation

_{Eric Cassell

November 3, 2021

Life Sciences}

Today’s ID the Future spotlights the new book Animal Algorithms: Evolution and the Mysterious Origin of Ingenious Instincts. The author, Eric Cassell, joins host and Baylor computer engineering professor Robert J. Marks to discuss the groundbreaking book and, in particular, the chapters on some of the animal kingdom’s most stunning navigators—the arctic tern, homing pigeons, the monarch butterfly, and the desert ant, among others. Cassell has degrees in biology and engineering, and he draws on these and his decades of professional expertise in aircraft navigation systems to show that these creatures instinctively employ navigational technologies that humans have only recently mastered. According to Cassell, their skills are driven by sophisticated algorithms embedded in their brains. But what created these algorithms Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Guillermo Gonzalez

Date
November 1, 2021

Categorized
Life Sciences

Tagged
astronomy, Atheism, atmosphere, atmospheric fine tuning, birth of science, Boyle, Carl Sagan, Casey Luskin, Charles Darwin, circumstellar habitable zoon, Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith, Copernicus, Descartes, discoverability, earth, Faraday, fine tuning, Galactic Habitable Zone, Galileo, Guillermo Gonzalez, habitability, Intelligent Design, Kepler, light spectrum, Materialism, Maxwell, Milky Way, moon, Newton, pale blue dot, perfect solar eclipses, planetary fine tuning, prisms, Privileged Planet, purposelessness, rainbows, scientific revolution, solar eclipses, spectroscopy, transparent atmosphere}

Carl Sagan Wrong about “Pale Blue Dot,” Says Astrobiologist

_{Guillermo Gonzalez

November 1, 2021

Life Sciences}

On today’s ID the Future, astrobiologist Guillermo Gonzalez unpacks one of his chapters in the new book The Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith, edited by episode host Casey Luskin. Gonzalez and Luskin look at how our atmosphere as well as the sun, moon, distance from our host star, and position in the Milky Way are all curiously fine tuned not only for life but also for allowing Earth’s human inhabitants to observe and discover things near and far about nature. It’s as if a master designer made the Earth not merely for life but for curious and intelligent beings. What about the fact that Earth is such a tiny part of a vast universe, a “pale blue dot” as Read More ›