Tag: RNA

^{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 ›

^{Type
post

Author
Brian Miller

Date
May 16, 2022

Categorized
Evolution

Tagged
alkaline thermal vents, Brian Miller, Charles Darwin, Darwin, design logics, devolution, DNA, E. coli, enzymes, error-correction mechanisms, Evolution, hype, James Tour, Jeremy England, Life on Fire, Materialism, Michael Russel, Molecular Machines, Natural Selection, Naturalism, Nature Communications, organizational blueprint, organizational design, origin of life, RNA, RNA first, RNA-World hypothesis, Robert Shapiro, Science Daily, self-organization, self-replicating molecules, self-replicating RNA, self-replication, Steven Novella, synthetic organic chemistry, The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe, University of Tokyo}

Origin-of-Life Mystery at the University of Tokyo, Pt. 2

_{Brian Miller

May 16, 2022

Evolution}

Today’s ID the Future is Part 2 of physicist Brian Miller exploring a recent report from the University of Tokyo claiming a big breakthrough in origin-of-life research. As Miller and host Eric Anderson make clear, the university’s laboratory work on RNA, detailed in a recent Nature Communications article, involved the intelligent interference of the lab scientists and, despite this intelligent interference, the devolution of RNA rather than the evolution of increasing RNA sophistication. Miller says that it’s ironic that Steven Novella, a scientist committed to puncturing science hype, seems to have fallen for the hype surrounding this laboratory work. Miller and Anderson go on to discuss critiques of origin-of-life tall-tale claims, critiques coming Robert Shapiro, James Tour, and others. Life, Read More ›

Single strand ribonucleic acid, RNA research and therapy

^{Type
post

Author
Brian Miller

Date
May 9, 2022

Categorized
Evolution

Tagged
Darwinism, devolution, DNA, entropy, Evolution, evolutionary paradigm, genetic information, Intelligent Design, molecular machinery, Nature Communications, nonfunctional RNA, nucleotides, origin of lie, origin-of-life experiment, parasitic RNAs, primordial soup, replicase, replicase enzyme, replication process, replicators, ribozyme, RNA, RNA network, RNA template, Science Daily, Thermodynamics, University of Tokyo, virus}

Did U of Tokyo Just Solve the Mystery of Life’s Origin?

_{Brian Miller

May 9, 2022

Evolution}

On this ID the Future, Brian Miller, research coordinator for the Center for Science & Culture, reports on laboratory research recently presented in Nature Communications and in a University of Tokyo press release— research that supposedly provides dramatic “new insights into the possible origin of life,” and specifically “the molecular evolution of RNA.” The popular press picked up on these claims and ran with them, including in this May 5 Quanta article that breathlessly reported, “When researchers gave a genetic molecule the ability to replicate, it evolved over time into a complex network of ‘hosts’ and ‘parasites’ that both competed and cooperated to survive.” Miller says nothing remotely this dramatic occurred in the experiment. He insists there were no great 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
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 ›

Couple standing on the beach at sunset are having problems with each other

^{Type
post

Author
Brian Miller

Date
May 3, 2021

Categorized
Evolution

Tagged
abiogenesis, alkaline thermal vents, Biological Information, Brian Miller, cell membrane, DNA, early Earth, entropy, Evolution, Helen Hansma, Intelligent Design, interfering cross reactions, Jack Szostak, Jeremy England, lipid bilayer, mica hypothesis, mica sheets, Michael Russell, natural templating, Nick Lane, origin of life, polymerase, prebiotic chemistry, protocell, raw energy, RNA, RNA World hypothesis}

Brian Miller Talks Star-Crossed RNA Strands and the Origin of Life

_{Brian Miller

May 3, 2021

Evolution}

On today’s ID the Future, physicist Brian Miller continues his conversation with host Eric Anderson. Here they explore more problems facing the idea that life began as strings of RNA. In their discussion of the RNA World Hypothesis and the origin of life generally, they touch on ideas advanced by Jeremy England, Jack Shostak, Nick Lane, Helen Hansma, and others. One of several big problems with the RNA-first hypothesis underscored by Miller and Anderson: For it to have even a slender chance of working, you need prebiotic Earth to generate not one but two information-rich RNA strands, and they somehow need to find each other before falling apart, and do so despite the fact that they aren’t looking for each Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
James Tour

Date
March 10, 2021

Categorized
Evolution

Tagged
ability to reproduce, abiogenesis, adaptation to evolution, ammonia, atmosphere of the early Earth, Biological Information, carbohydrates, catalysis, cellular life, characteristics of life, chemical evolution, DNA, early Earth, entropy, enzymes, genetic information, homeostasis, homochirality, lipids, metabolism, molecular degradation, nucleic acids, nucleotides, origin of life, panspermia, polysaccharides, Proteins, reducing atmosphere, response to stimuli, RNA, Sugars, synthetic organic chemistry}

James Tour–A Flyover of the Challenges Facing Abiogenesis

_{James Tour

March 10, 2021

Evolution}

Today’s ID the Future features the next in a YouTube video series by Dr. James Tour on the origin-of-life problem. Here Tour, a distinguished synthetic organic chemist, lists the characteristics of life and describes some features of the early Earth where life first appeared. Then he provides a fast flyover of the many grave problems of blindly evolving the first living cell from prebiotic materials.

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post

Author
Michael Denton

Date
October 12, 2020

Categorized
Intelligent Design

Tagged
DNA, erythrocytes, Evolution: a Theory in Crisis, fine-tuning, infinity, Nature’s Destiny, periodic table of elements, Privileged Species, quantum tunneling, red blood cells, RNA}

Michael Denton Discusses The Miracle of the Cell

_{Michael Denton

October 12, 2020

Intelligent Design}

On this episode of ID the Future, Eric Anderson speaks with biochemist Michael Denton about Denton’s new book The Miracle of the Cell, part of his continuing Privileged Species series exploring nature’s fine tuning for life. New research keeps unveiling ever more ways in which this fine tuning exists, from the cosmos to the atoms of the periodic table, even to the subatomic level of quantum tunneling. As for the cell itself, It is as if scientists are discovering a “third infinity,” says Denton.

^{Type
post

Author
Eric H. Anderson

Date
June 15, 2020

Categorized
Science

Tagged
__edited, abiogenesis, Charles Darwin, Darwinian Evolution, Evolution, James M. Tour, origin of life, perpetual motion machines, Richard Dawkins, RNA, self-replicating 3-D printers, self-replicating molecule, self-replicators}

New ID Book Zeroes in on Evolution’s Zero-Probability Problem

_{Eric H. Anderson

June 15, 2020

Science}

On this episode of ID the Future, Andrew McDiarmid concludes his conversation with Eric Anderson, one of the co-authors of the new Discovery Institute Press book Evolution and Intelligent Design in a Nutshell. Today they talk about Anderson’s second of two chapters in the book, where he explores the challenges of building a self-replicating 3D printer, and the light this sheds on the origin-of-life community’s search for their Holy Grail, a self-reproducing molecule that could have kickstarted the evolutionary process on the early earth. In their conversation, Anderson suggests that there are engineering principles involved in the origin of life that may mean that a naturalistic origin of life is less like winning a long-odds lottery, and more like the Read More ›

Virus protection. Vaccine search. Antibodies and viral infection. Immune defense of the body. Attack on antigens 3D illustration

^{Type
post

Author
Michael Egnor

Date
May 13, 2020

Categorized
Science

Tagged
__edited, Aristotle, chance, Charles Darwin, coronavirus, COVID-19, Darwinism, design inference, Evolution, intelligent agency, Intelligent Design, mutations, Natural Selection, P.Z. Myers, pandemic, Proteins, random mutations, randomness, RNA, specified complexity, virus}

Covid-19, Random Mutations, and Aristotle’s Matrix of Design

_{Michael Egnor

May 13, 2020

Science}

On this episode of ID the Future, Andrew McDiarmid speaks with neurosurgeon Michael Egnor about Egnor’s recent Evolution News article, The Coronavirus Demonstrates How Evolution Presupposes Intelligent Design. Egnor notes that the coronavirus and other viruses are not, strictly speaking, considered living things, even if they depend on living hosts for their continued existence. Egnor also discusses the role of random mutations in viruses and draws upon Aristotle to argue that these and other random events only occur, and have their meaning, against a backdrop of purpose and design — in this case, the designed systems — the bodies — that viruses invade.