No. 9 Story of 2023: Irreducible Complexity of Sperm Cells

acrosin, acrosome, acrosome phase, bacterial flagellum, biology, calcium ions, cap phase, capacitation, cervix, Daniela Nicastro, DNA, dyneins, egg cell, ejaculation, Evolution, fertilization, fertilized egg, flagellum, foresight, Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, Golgi phase, haploid genome, Harvard University, human reproduction, hyaluronidase, infant, Intelligent Design, intent, intercourse, Irreducible Complexity, Jianfeng Lin, middle piece, mitochondria, ovum, reproduction, reproductive tract, seminal fluid, sperm, sperm cells, teleology, uterine tubes, uterus, zygote
Human reproduction is perhaps the quintessential example of teleology in biology. Source
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To Understand Nature’s Intentionality, We Must Go Back to the Future

"God of the gaps", Aristotle, body, causation, Christianity, DNA, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Isaac Newton, Johannes Kepler, Jonathan Wells, Michael Behe, mind, Nicolaus Copernicus, Pierre-Simon Laplace, proteins, René Descartes, ribosomes, science of purpose, scientism, soul, Stephen Meyer, subject-object metaphysics, Thomas Aquinas, William Dembski
It required the truly inimitable intellect of Aquinas to Christianize and modernize what Aristotle had said 1,600 years before him. Source
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Hitting the Brakes on “Rapid Evolution”

Ann Gauger, Bijan Nemati, biochemical weapons, Culture, Darwinian evolution, Defense Intelligence Agency, DNA, E. coli, engineers, Eric Anderson, Evolution, extinction, Idaho, Intelligent Design, Iraq, Long Term Evolutionary Experiment, mutations, Richard Lenski, Scott Minnich, Why It Matters
Evolutionary biologist Richard Lenski hopes to demonstrate Darwinian evolution in action. But one humble scientist from Northern Idaho says not so fast! Source
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Epigenetics: Performing the Genome

cadenza, central dogma, coda, Current Biology, diet, DNA, EMBO Reports, environment, epigenetics, Evolution, exercise, Frank Gannon, Frankenstein, genome, Intelligent Design, John Innes Centre, Life Sciences, lifestyle, low oxygen, mental habits, middle C, mind, mood, mutations, pianist, piano, RNA, Serengeti, tempo, University of Georgia, Van Cliburn, Vladimir Horowitz, zebra, zebra finch, zebrafish
Epigenetics is surpassing genetics in distinction, just as the pianist gets the applause and not the piano. Source
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Couldn’t Life’s Information Have Accumulated Gradually? No, and New Long Story Explains Why Not

accuracy, biological information, chemical evolution, code, DNA, Evolution, genome, information, Intelligent Design, James Tour, Long Story Short, Lynn Helena Caporale, origin of life, researchers, self-replication, The Implicit Genome, YouTube videos
It turns out there are five separate qualities to life and its information that make this comforting rationalization impossible to uphold. Source
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Former “Junk DNA,” STRs Found to Be “Rheostats” that “Precisely Regulate Gene Expression”

autism, binding kinetics, biology, cancer, Crohn’s disease, DNA, eukaryotes, Evolution, fine-tuning, gene expression, Genomics Proteomics & Bioinformatics, heaters, human genome, Intelligent Design, Junk DNA, light dimmer, motor speed, motors, mutations, nucleotides, ovens, phenotypes, power control, proteins, regulatory elements, repetitive elements, rheostat, schizophrenia, Science (journal), Short Tandem Repeats, STRs, transcription factor
Rheostats are “often used as power control devices, for example to control light intensity (dimmer), speed of motors, heaters, and ovens.” Source
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Is the Cell a Machine, or More Like a Mind? 

Barbara McClintock, cell, cellular architecture, cellular behavior, cellular cognition, Chance and Necessity, circuitry, cognition, conformation, Daniel Nicholson, DNA, electronic circuitry, function, functional promiscuity, Intelligent Design, intracellular transport, Jacques Monod, Journal of Theoretical Biology, lymphotactin, machine, machine conception of the cell, machine metaphor, membranes, molecular biology, neural circuitry, Neuroscience & Mind, nucleic acids, proteins, self-assembly, Sewall Wright, wiring
At least as we’re accustomed to thinking in our age of AI, the alternative to a machine is a mind. Source
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A Theoretical Biologist’s Mission Impossible: Banish Teleology While Retaining Meaning

academic politics, Chemistry, consciousness, Darwinian evolution, DNA, Evolution, genes, genetic code, information, Intelligent Design, Marcello Barbieri, materialism, Meaning, natural selection, paradigm, physics, private truth, public truth, teleology, University of Ferrara
The nonsense will cease eventually. But eventually is a long way off, if Barbieri’s dilemma is any guide. Source
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Asking Questions Demonstrates Human Exceptionalism

Albert Einstein, animals, Bible, chatbot, ChatGPT, cosmos, curiosity, DNA, electronic technology, fine-tuning, history, human exceptionalism, Human Origins, humans, imagination, Intelligent Design, Irreducible Complexity, metaphysics, natural world, Physics, Earth & Space, prompt engineering, Questions
This human trait of question-asking begins almost as soon as we learn to talk. Young children can confound their parents with their rapid-fire questions. Source
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On the Irreducible Complexity of Sperm Cells

acrosin, acrosome, acrosome phase, bacterial flagellum, biology, calcium ions, cap phase, capacitation, cervix, Daniela Nicastro, DNA, dyneins, egg cell, ejaculation, Evolution, fertilization, fertilized egg, flagellum, foresight, Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, Golgi phase, haploid genome, Harvard University, human reproduction, hyaluronidase, infant, Intelligent Design, intent, intercourse, Irreducible Complexity, Jianfeng Lin, middle piece, mitochondria, ovum, reproduction, reproductive tract, seminal fluid, sperm cells, sperm flagellum, teleology, uterine tubes, uterus, zygote
Human reproduction is perhaps the quintessential example of teleology in biology. Source
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