Tag: RNA world

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post

Author
Rob Stadler

Date
April 22, 2024

Tagged
abiogenesis, Charles Darwin, Darwinism, early Earth, Eric Anderson, Evolution, Materialism, Natural Selection, origin of life, Origin of Life Research, RNA, RNA world, RNA World hypothesis, Rob Stadler}

Top Ten Cheats in “Monumental” Origin of Life Research

_{Rob Stadler

April 22, 2024

Uncategorized}

A Washington Post headline recently declared that a "monumental experiment suggests how life on earth may have started." The reality, however, is far more sobering. In this episode of ID the Future, host Eric Anderson sits down with accomplished medical engineer and origin of life author, Robert Stadler, to discuss what this new research actually shows and the relevance to abiogenesis. More episodes and show notes at idthefuture.com. Read More ›

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Author
Stephen C. Meyer

Date
April 8, 2024

Tagged
Assembly Theory, biology, Darwinism, Denis Noble, developmental gene regulatory network, epigenetic information, epigenetic revolution, Evolution, James Tour, Joana Xavier, Lee Cronin, Natural Selection, Nature (Journal), Neo-Darwinism, Nick Lane, origin of life, RNA world, RNA World hypothesis, Stephen Meyer}

Meyer & Tour on New Critiques of Origin of Life Research

_{Stephen C. Meyer

April 8, 2024

Uncategorized}

On this ID The Future, we're pleased to share a new discussion between Dr. James Tour and Dr. Stephen Meyer about recent critiques of origin of life research published in the prestigious science journal Nature. The interview originally aired on The Science and Faith Podcast, hosted by Dr. Tour. We are grateful to Dr. Tour for permission to share this interview on ID The Future. Read More ›

Biotechnology bioinformatics concept of DNA and protein letter background, DNA and protein sequence 3d render

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post

Author
Casey Luskin

Date
January 3, 2024

Tagged
Darwinism, epigenetic information, Evolution, gene expression, genome, genomic programming, Intelligent Design, Jonathan Wells, Junk DNA, Kuhnian paradigm shift, Kuhnian revolution, Materialism, Natural Selection, Neo-Darwinism, non-protein coding DNA, paradigm, RNA, RNA world, short tandem repeats, The Myth of Junk DNA, Thomas Kuhn}

Casey Luskin On Junk DNA’s ‘Kuhnian Paradigm Shift’

_{Casey Luskin

January 3, 2024

Uncategorized}

Prevailing scientific assumptions often die hard, especially when they fit so neatly into an evolutionary view of the development of life on earth. On this episode of ID The Future, Dr. Casey Luskin gives host Andrew McDiarmid an update on the paradigm shift around the concept of "junk DNA." Year after year for over a decade, new evidence has emerged revealing important functions for non-protein coding DNA, vindicating intelligent design scientists who have long predicted such function. Luskin summarizes the evidence and suggests a new way to look at these genomic treasures. Read More ›

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post

Author
Jonathan McLatchie

Date
September 27, 2023

Tagged
biology, chemical evolution, chemical soup, Darwin, Darwinism, DNA, early Earth, early earth atmosphere, error catastrophe, error rate, Evolution, Evolutionary Biology, Intelligent Design, Jonathan McLatchie, Materialism, Natural Selection, origin of life, replication, RNA, RNA replication, RNA world, RNA World hypothesis, self-replication}

Minimal Replication Fidelity: Another Problem for the RNA World Hypothesis

_{Jonathan McLatchie

September 27, 2023

Uncategorized}

The RNA world is proposed by some to explain how early life began before DNA. But is RNA capable of maintaining a life-friendly self-replication rate? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes back Dr. Jonathan McLatchie to discuss another headache for the RNA world scenario. Before a trial and error process like natural selection can even get started, self-replicating molecules must have a minimal accuracy rate to copy genetic material effectively. The required fidelity rate is estimated to be 2%. Any error rate higher than that results in error catastrophe for organisms. The average error rate in RNA copying is estimated to be around 17%, vastly higher than the estimated maximum error threshold for survival. McLatchie explains the implications of this for chemical evolutionary theories like the RNA world hypothesis. He also explains how a Bayesian approach to this evidence can provide us with the likeliest explanation for the origin of biological life. "The sorts of features that we observe in life are not particularly surprising if we suppose that a mind is involved," says McLatchie. But things like minimal self-replication fidelity are wildly surprising on a naturalistic hypothesis. Read More ›

science laboratory test tubes , lab equipment for research new medical

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post

Author
James Tour

Date
July 26, 2023

Tagged
abiogenesis, chemistry, Darwinism, Dave Farina, Evolution, Intelligent Design, James Tour, Lee Cronin, origin of life, origins, Professor Dave, Rice University, RNA world, RNA World hypothesis, Science, synthetic organic chemistry}

Extravagant Claims: James Tour & Stephen Meyer Critique Origin of Life Research

_{James Tour

July 26, 2023

Uncategorized}

On this ID The Future, we continue a four-part conversation series between philosopher of science Dr. Stephen Meyer, author of Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design, and Dr. James Tour, a world-leading synthetic organic chemist at Rice University. Dr. Tour has recently been engaged in a series of back-and-forth responses to attacks on his work from YouTube science communicator Dave Farina. This has given Tour a new opportunity to critique experts in the field of abiogenesis and allows an interested public to better evaluate both sides of the argument. In Part 2, Meyer and Tour discuss the work and claims of origin of life researcher Lee Cronin. They begin with a review of the four classes of molecules before critiquing Cronin’s foremose reaction experiments and his claims to have found a process that’s analogous to cell division. Tour also discusses the importance of chirality, as well as how amino acids behave in aqueous solutions. Turns out that “warm little pond” story we’ve been told for many years is chemically implausible. The discussion rounds out with a reminder of the information problem, something Meyer writes about at length in Signature in the Cell. Have prebiotic chemists made any progress on the sequence specificity problem? None whatsoever, says Dr. Tour. This is Part 2 of a four-part series of conversations. Watch the video versions of these at Dr. Meyer’s YouTube channel: @DrStephenMeyer Read More ›

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Author
Cornelius Hunter

Date
February 8, 2021

Tagged
abiogenesis, Alexander Oparin, Biological Information, Brian Green, Charles Carter, Charles Darwin, chemical evolution, chemical soup, Cornelius Hunter, Epicureans, Eric Anderson, Evolution, first life, J.B.S. Haldane, Joseph Hooker, Natural Selection, Occam’s Razor, origin of life, origin-of-life research, prebiotic conditions, principle of parsimony, RNA world, RNA World hypothesis, RNA-DNA World, Robert Hook, self-replicating molecule, self-replication, simplest organism, synthetic organic chemistry, Urey-Miller experiment, warm little pond}

RNA World in a World of Hurt

_{Cornelius Hunter

February 8, 2021

Uncategorized}

On this ID the Future, biophysicist Cornelius Hunter and host Eric Anderson discuss the RNA World hypothesis, an explanation for how the first self-reproducing organism might have arisen via mindless chemical processes. Hunter and Anderson have each written on the topic, and together they unpack some of the many and growing problems with this RNA-first explanation for the origin of life. They also spotlight some recent admissions in mainstream scientific publications that it’s time to move on from the cherished but embattled RNA World. The conversation pivots off of a recent essay by Hunter at Evolution News, “RNA World: Repeated Downfalls, Repeated Resurrections.” For more on the challenges of creating the first self-reproducing biological entity, see Eric Anderson’s Chapter 3 of Evolution and Intelligent Design in a Nutshell.

^{Type
post

Author
Eric H. Anderson

Date
September 2, 2020

Tagged
__edited, abiogenesis, Intelligent Design, Materialism, membrane first, metabolism first, Naturalism, OOL, origin of life, protocell, RNA first, RNA world, scientific Materialism}

New Origin-of-Life Proposal Revives a Hopeful Monster

_{Eric H. Anderson

September 2, 2020

Uncategorized}

On this episode of ID the Future, host Eric Anderson talks with scientist and fellow engineer Rob Stadler about a recent origin-of-life paper and how the authors paint themselves into a corner. The context for the paper is this: Decades of research have undermined the three great hopes for a purely naturalistic origin of life — scenarios starting with some sort of metabolism, scenarios starting with some kind of membrane, and scenarios starting with RNA. All three are necessary for cellular life; none seems able to have come ahead of the others. So now some recent work described in an article in New Scientist suggests it all happened at once in a sort of “chemical big bang.” It’s the return of an old idea long ago dismissed as too improbable. Is this “hopeful monster” plausible after all? As Anderson and Stadler show, there are numerous hidden assumptions and imaginary entities lurking in the proposal, which when surfaced, call its soundness into question.