An Optimistic Solution to the Mystery of Life’s Origin

Antonio Lazcano, biology, biomolecules, Brian Miller, Cambridge University, Discovery Institute Press, DNA, Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Eugene Koonin, Evolution, First Life from Purely Natural Means? (series), genetic information, George Whitesides, intelligent agent, Intelligent Design, Jack Szostak, James Tour, life, National Center for Biotechnology Information, New Atheists, Nobel Prize, origin of life, prebiotic Earth, Richard Dawkins, RNA, Stephen Meyer, The Mystery of Life’s Origin, Walter Bradley
Consider what five prestigious origin-of-life thinkers say about the current status of origin-of-life research. Source
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Still Unexplained: The First Living Cell

American Biology Teacher, biology, Brian Miller, Cell Biology International, cell's, cellular machinery, chicken-and-egg problem, DNA, enzymes, Evolution, First Life from Purely Natural Means? (series), Frank Salisbury, genetic code, information, intelligent agents, Intelligent Design, Jeremy England, molecular machinery, molecular machines, origin of life, physicists, RNA, simplest cell
In recent years, MIT physicist Jeremy England has gained media attention for proposing a thermodynamic energy-dissipation model of the origin of life. Source
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Gene Sharing Is More Widespread than Thought, with Implications for Darwinism

bacteria, bioRxiv, Ceratopteris, co-evolution, convergence, Current Biology, DNA, Doug Soltis, Duke University, Evolution, ferns, Florida Museum of Natural History, Foresight (book), gene flow, heredity, horizontal gene transfer, human evolution, Intelligent Design, introgression, kleptomania, Lingchong You, Neanderthals, North Carolina State University, plants, University of Tübingen
Evidence is growing that organisms share existing genetic information horizontally, not just vertically. Source
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Report from Australia: Sharing Design Evidence Down Under

Australia, biology, C.S. Lewis, Cambrian Explosion, cosmic fine-tuning, Darwinism, Discovery Institute, DNA, DNA and Beyond, Emmanuel College, Evolution, Gold Coast, Griffith University, Intelligent Design, John Lingelbach, lecture tour, molecular machines, pizza, Queensland, Southport, Stephen Buranyi, The Guardian, Trinity College
While I packed for my July/August speaking tour of Queensland, Australia, science writer Stephen Buranyi dropped an 11-page bombshell in London. Source
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Assessing Denis Noble’s (Non-ID) Critique of Darwinism

biology, Clarence Williams, Denis Noble, developmental genetics, DNA, embryo, Evolution, evolutionary biology, Extended Evolutionary Synthesis, fruit fly, Gerd Müller, horse, horse fly, Intelligent Design, James Shapiro, Jerry Coyne, Jonathan Wells, Neo-Darwinism, Oxford 50, Raju Pookottil, Royal Society, science, Susan Mazur, Third Way of Evolution, Why Evolution Is True, Zombie Science
No matter what we do to the DNA of a fruit fly embryo, there are only three possible outcomes: a normal fruit fly, a defective fruit fly, or a dead fruit fly. Source
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Complex Specified Information in the Lowly Sponge

architecture, arthropods, astronauts, Cambrian animals, Cambrian Explosion, Cambrian News, Cambrian strata, cementer cells, collagen, Current Biology, DNA, epithelial tissue, European Union, Intelligent Design, Mars, science, self-organization, spicules, sponges, temperature, termite mounds, termites, transport cells, vertebrates
Sponges are outliers in biology’s big bang, the Cambrian explosion. Their embryos appear in Precambrian strata, leading some to consider them primitive. Source
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If Nanomotors Are Designed, Why Not Biomotors?

Alexander Graham Bell, ATP molecules, ATP synthase, biological motors, Cees Dekker, chloroplast membrane, Delft University of Technology, DNA, Evolution, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Intelligent Design, Jingang Li, K-Pop, Koreans, Life Sciences, mitochondrial membrane, nanoturbine, Nature Foods, New Scientist, photosynthesis, Samuel Morse, UC Riverside, University of Texas
Physical chemists are justifiably proud of their tiny motors that do little more than spin. How can they say that much more complex motors in life evolved? Source
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