Tag: amino acids

^{Type
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 ›

3d Illustration structure of the graphene or carbon surface, abstract nanotechnology hexagonal geometric form close-up, concept graphene atomic structure, concept graphene molecular structure.

^{Type
post

Author
James Tour

Date
January 30, 2023

Categorized
Science

Tagged
amino acids, chemical evolution, early Earth, Eric Metaxas, Evolution, graphene, James Tour, molecular cars, nanotechnology, origin of life, paralyzed rats, philosophical materialism, prebiotic chemistry, Rice University, severed spinal cords, simply life, Socrates in the City, spinal cord injuries, synthetic chemistry, synthetic organic chemistry, unexamined life}

James Tour Talks Nanotech at Socrates in the City

_{James Tour

January 30, 2023

Science}

Today’s ID the Future features the first part of a conversation between James Tour and Socrates in the City host Eric Metaxas on Tour’s astonishing work in nanotechnology and on the topic “How Did Life Come into Being?” Tour is the T. T. and W. F. Chao Professor of Chemistry, Professor of Computer Science, and Professor of Materials Science and Nanoengineering at Rice University. He is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading nano-scientists. This event took place at the River Oaks Country Club in Houston, Texas, and is presented here with permission of Eric Metaxas. Here in Part 1, Tour explains some of the inventions coming out of Tour’s Rice University lab, including molecular cars and astonishing graphene Read More ›

Ribosome translating mRNA into a polypeptide chain

^{Type
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 ›

Achilles injury on running outdoors. Man holding Achilles tendon by hands close-up and suffering with pain. Sprain ligament or Achilles tendonitis.

^{Type
post

Author
Rob Stadler

Date
September 7, 2022

Categorized
Evolution

Tagged
amino acids, ATP Synthase, chemical evolution, energy harnessing, Long Story Short, Miller-Urey experiment, origin of life, proton gradient, raw energy, Rob Stadler}

Energy Harnessing: An Achilles Heel for Origin of Life

_{Rob Stadler

September 7, 2022

Evolution}

Origin-of-life specialist Rob Stadler joins today’s ID the Future to discuss a new Long Story Short science video short. The video investigates a special problem that faces all naturalistic origin-of-life scenarios: To be viable, a cell must have sophisticated machinery, including ATP synthase, to turn raw energy into constructive energy. But how could prebiotic chemicals harness raw energy on the way to evolving into a viable self-reproducing cell without first having the sophisticated machinery to harness raw energy and convert it to useful work? Are the energy sources that have been proposed for chemical evolution realistic? In his conversation with host Eric Anderson, Stadler argues that, no, they aren’t. This isn’t the sort of thing that mindless natural processes can Read More ›

The student is sitting at the table and is looking for excuses for not being ready for the lesson. Photo by Dmitriy on Adobe Stock

^{Type
post

Author
Paul Nelson

Date
February 14, 2022

Categorized
Evolution

Tagged
amino acids, Casey Luskin, cells, common descent, Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith, Craig Venter, Darwinism, DNA, Eugene Koonin, evolutionary theory, genetic code, genetic codes, Jacques Monod, last universal common ancestor, Life’s Greatest Secret, LUCA, Matthew Cobb, Michael Syvanen, Neo-Darwinism, Paul Nelson, Proteins, Richard Dawkins, RNA, scientific predictions, testability, universal common ancestor, universal common descent, variant genetic codes}

How Universal Common Descent Survives Failed Predictions

_{Paul Nelson

February 14, 2022

Evolution}

On today’s ID the Future, philosopher of biology Paul Nelson discusses his chapter in a recent Harvest House anthology edited by host Casey Luskin, The Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith. Nelson says the theory of universal common descent, a key component of modern evolutionary theory, has generated multiple predictions that have failed. The prediction he discusses here is that there would turn out to be a single universal genetic code, since that’s what we should expect if all life on earth is descended from the last universal common ancestor (LUCA). Findings over the past three decades have proven that prediction spectacularly wrong. How does the theory of universal common descent shrug off this contrary empirical finding? The trick for Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Jonathan Wells

Date
January 5, 2022

Categorized
Evolution

Tagged
abiogenesis, amino acids, borosilicate glass reactor vessel, catalyst, Charles Darwin, chemical evolution, early atmosphere, earth, Eric Anderson, geochemistry, George Gaylord Simpson, glass, Harold Urey, Icons of Evolution, Intelligent Design, James Tour, Jonathan Wells, Miller-Urey experiment, origin of life, Philip Abelson, Proteins, reducing atmosphere, silica, silicate rock, Stanley Miller, Teflon, the mystery of life’s origin, volcanic outgassing, warm little pond}

A New Flaw in the Miller-Urey Experiment, and a Few Old

_{Jonathan Wells

January 5, 2022

Evolution}

On today’s ID the Future, biologist Jonathan Wells and host Eric Anderson discuss a recently discovered problem with the famous Miller-Urey experiment, long ballyhooed in biology textbooks as dramatic experimental evidence for the naturalistic origin of life. The newly uncovered problem involves the glassware used in the experiment. It is an interesting finding, but as Wells explains, it is far from the first problem discovered with the experiment, nor the most serious one. While biology textbooks often present the 1952 experiment by Stanley Miller and Harold Urey as a key icon of evolution, even those origin-of-life researchers who hope to one day to discover a credible naturalistic scenario for the origin of the first living cell concede that the experiment Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Rob Stadler

Date
October 25, 2021

Categorized
Evolution

Tagged
abiogenesis, amino acids, Arkansas Tech University, Biological Information, chemical evolution, degradation, entropy, Eric Anderson, homeostasis, homochirality, interfering cross-reactions, James Tour, Jim Tour, John Narcum, John Southerland, Long Story Short, Miller-Urey experiment, Murchison meteorite, origin of life, primordial soup, propaganda, relay synthesis, ribose, RNA, Rob Stadler, self-replication, simple life, Stairway to Life, synthetic organic chemistry, The Basic Building Blocks and the Origin of Life, toxic molecules, YouTube}

New Animated Video Dismantles Origin-of-Life Hype

_{Rob Stadler

October 25, 2021

Evolution}

Today’s ID the Future spotlights a new origin-of-life video showing that researchers aren’t anywhere close to creating life from non-life, despite the fact most Americans seem to believe otherwise. In the episode, host Eric Anderson interviews Stairway to Life co-author Rob Stadler, who helped create the new Long Story Short animated video. Stadler and Anderson explore how origin-of-life papers and popular media reports have misled the public, evidenced by a survey underscored by Rice University synthetic organic chemist James Tour. Then they discuss several daunting origin-of-life hurdles beyond the synthesis of key chemical building blocks. These are hurdles significant enough that each alone may doom the idea of life having once emerged from non-life spontaneously. Indeed, it is now a Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Rob Stadler

Date
April 5, 2021

Tagged
abiogenesis, amino acids, cell membrane, cell membrane gates, cell membrane pumps, Craig Venter, devolution, diffusion gradient, E. coli, early Earth, Evolution, gene loss, homeostasis, lipid bubbles, membrane, minimal bacterial genome, minimal cell, minimal organism, origin of life, phospholipid, phospholipid bilayer membrane, pre-biotic chemistry, Proteins, protocells, reverse engineering, ribose operon, Richard Lenski, single-celled organisms}

Origin of Life’s Purple Unicorn: Protocells

_{Rob Stadler

April 5, 2021}

On today’s ID the Future, host Eric Anderson sits down with Rob Stadler, co-author with Change Tan of The Stairway To Life: An Origin-Of-Life Reality Check. The topic of discussion–protocells. Stadler notes that the simplest existing single-celled organisms are far too sophisticated to have emerged through a blind process of prebiotic evolution. He further notes that this is widely acknowledged in the origin-of-life community, but those committed to a purely materialistic origin of the first life have a fallback explanation–protocells. That is, early biological structures far simpler than anything we find today. An intriguing hypothesis, but the problems with it, according to Stadler, are legion. Tune in as Stadler and Anderson walk through several lines of evidence that appear to Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Michael Behe

Date
December 23, 2020

Categorized
Evolution

Tagged
amino acids, antibiotic resistance, blood clotting, blood clotting cascade, cells, chloroquine resistance, Darwin’s Black Box, Darwinism, DNA, Eugene Koonin, Evolution, evolutionary pathway, genetic mutations, Intelligent Design, irreducible complexity, Jerry Coyne, look-ahead mutation, malaria, molecular biology, Mt. Improbable, Natural Selection, Neo-Darwinism, protein-protein binding, Proteins, random mutation, Richard Dawkins, scientific paradigms, Sean B. Carroll, The Edge of Evolution}

Michael Behe’s Mousetrap on the Edge

_{Michael Behe

December 23, 2020

Evolution}

On this ID the Future Lehigh University biologist Michael Behe dives deeper into A Mousetrap for Darwin. Behe and host Eric Anderson pivot to the new book’s section defending Behe’s earlier work, The Edge of Evolution. In that earlier book, Behe reviewed hard data from evolution studies of malaria parasites, HIV, and E. coli, showed that blind evolutionary processes face severe limits as to what they can build, and argued that intelligent design was required for the origin of life’s great diversity. In this new conversation Behe touches on some of the attempts to refute that argument and suggests why those refutations fail. For a more in-depth look at his defense of The Edge of Evolution, get your copy of Read More ›