Tag: synthetic organic chemistry

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

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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 ›

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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 ›

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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 ›

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post

Author
Brian Miller

Date
July 21, 2021

Categorized
Evolution

Tagged
abiogenesis, Brownian motion, building blocks of life, cell death, chemical evolution, Dave Farina, entropy, homochirality, information problem, James Tour, mass transfer problem, Molecular Machines, origin of life, synthetic organic chemistry, the Levinthal paradox of the interactome, yeast cell}

More on James Tour’s Abiogenesis YouTube Series

_{Brian Miller

July 21, 2021

Evolution}

On today’s ID the Future, physicist Brian Miller continues his review of James Tour’s origin-of-life YouTube series. As Miller explains, Tour, a world-renowned synthetic organic chemist and professor at Rice University, was inspired to create the series when YouTuber and evolutionist Dave Farina critiqued Tour’s critique of contemporary origin-of-life claims. In reviewing Tour’s video series, Miller and host Eric Anderson praise the Tour series and discuss the Levinthal paradox of the interactome, the ridiculously long odds of blind processes assembling the first living cell, and the challenge of cell death (think Humpty Dumpty and what all the king’s men couldn’t do). Also discussed: entropy, molecular machines, the challenges that Brownian motion and homochirality pose, the presence of intelligent design in Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Brian Miller

Date
May 24, 2021

Categorized
Evolution

Tagged
abiogenesis, Brian Miller, building blocks of life, chemical evolution, Dave Farina, Duke University, entropy, James Tour, MIT, Natural Selection, origin of life, prebiotic chemistry, Professor Dave, Rice University, Richard Dawkins, self-organization, synthetic organic chemistry, The Blind Watchmaker}

Brian Miller Distills the YouTube Debate between Dave Farina and James Tour

_{Brian Miller

May 24, 2021

Evolution}

On today’s ID the Future, host Eric Anderson and physicist Brian Miller, research director for Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture, discuss a recent debate between YouTube science educator Dave Farina and Rice University synthetic organic chemist James Tour. Tour has argued that no one—not even the most elite of origin-of-life scientists–has a clue how life could have arisen through blind natural forces on the early earth. Farina created a YouTube response on his channel arguing that Tour is wrong and that origin-of-life researchers are well on their way to solving the mystery of life’s origin. Tour then responded in his own YouTube video series. Now Miller and Anderson boil it all down and argue that Tour is right Read More ›

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Author
William A. Dembski

Date
May 17, 2021

Categorized
Intelligent Design

Tagged
abiogenesis, Evolution, genetic code, God, information theory, Intelligent Design, Natural Selection, origin of life, Shannon information, specified information, synthetic organic chemistry, teleology}

James Tour Interviews William Dembski, Pt. 1

_{William A. Dembski

May 17, 2021

Intelligent Design}

Today’s ID the Future features Rice University synthetic organic chemist James Tour and intelligent design pioneer William Dembski discussing information theory, information as a meaningful reduction of possibilities, Shannon information versus specified information, and how natural selection has come to function as a God substitute for many scientists, despite the lack of evidence. The conversation is borrowed, with permission, from Dr. Tour’s Science & Faith podcast.

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post

Author
James Tour

Date
March 17, 2021

Categorized
Evolution

Tagged
abiogenesis, chemical evolution, Dave Farina, Denis Noble, James M. Tour, John Narcum, Justin Brierly, Lee Cronin, origin of life, prebiotic evolution, primordial soup, synthetic organic chemistry}

James Tour: Primordial Soup Bluffing Goes Right to the Top

_{James Tour

March 17, 2021

Evolution}

Today’s ID the Future features another installment in James Tour’s hard-hitting and evidence-based YouTube series on abiogenesis. Here Dr. Tour, a world-leading synthetic organic chemist at Rice University, describes the early Earth primordial soup concept for the origin of first life (OOL) and shows why it’s simplistic, bogus, and doesn’t represent the current science on the issue. He also reviews survey data showing just how misinformed the public is about how far scientists have gotten in creating life in the lab. One critic of Tour protested that the simplistic primordial soup story might be found in highly simplified textbooks for sixth graders but isn’t peddled at higher levels. Tour provides video evidence to the contrary.

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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
James Tour

Date
March 1, 2021

Categorized
Evolution

Tagged
abiogenesis, ad hominem fallacy, biochemistry, Brian Miller, Christianity, Dave Farina, entropy, high energy, James M. Tour, low entropy, OOL, organic chemistry, origin of life, synthetic organic chemistry, Thermodynamics}

A James Tour Course on Abiogenesis: Prologue

_{James Tour

March 1, 2021

Evolution}

Today’s ID the Future features audio of the first in a series of YouTube videos by Dr. James Tour on the origin-of-life problem. Here Tour, a renowned synthetic organic chemist and professor at Rice University, explains why he is addressing the origin-of-life issue, also known as abiogenesis, and touches on some common misconceptions about the field. He says the organizing impetus for the series is a YouTube video by Dave Farina, “Elucidating the Agenda of James Tour: A Defense of Abiogenesis.” As Farina’s title suggests, he begins his video with an ad hominem attack, seeking to discredit Tour by showing that Tour is a Christian. Tour briefly responds to this line of attack and then moves into matters scientific. There Read More ›

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post

Author
Cornelius Hunter

Date
February 8, 2021

Categorized
Evolution

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

Evolution}

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 Read More ›