27May 2022 by Post

Troubles with the Tree of Life

Acta Biotheoretica, Amadeo Estrada, DNA, Evolution, evolutionary theory, Intelligent Design, Last Universal Common Ancestor, Latin America, LUCA, molecular sequences, molecular studies, National Autonomous University of Mexico, origin of life, Philosophy of Science, reconstructions, Research, RNA, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas Kuhn, Tree of Life, W. Ford Doolittle
Sixty years ago, philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn listed what he described as the “symptoms” of a research field undergoing destabilizing change. Source
Read More
13Apr 2022 by Post

Frankenstein and His Offspring

abiogenesis, Aristotle, biology, cryogenic freezing, Evolution, Frankenstein, Funny Man: Mel Brooks, Gene Wilder, Harold Urey, Intelligent Design, Mary Shelley, Mel Brooks, movies, origin of life, panspermia, Patrick McGilligan, satire, Stanley Miller, Svante Arrhenius, Why Words Matter: Sense and Nonsense in Science (series), Young Frankenstein
"Abiogenesis" seems to draw its strength from pseudo-scientific folk-beliefs that life could somehow be made to emerge from non-life. Source
Read More
23Mar 2022 by Post

Fact Check: Did University of Tokyo Researchers Explain the Origin of Life?

Darwinian evolution, enzymes, Evolution, Intelligent Design, investigators, molecular machinery, mutations, Nature Communications, Nobel Prize, nucleotides, origin of life, parasites, press release, Qb virus, replicase, replication, Ribosome, RNA, Ryo Mizuuchi, translational machinery, tRNA, University of Tokyo
The research paper avers, “These results support the capability of molecular replicators to spontaneously develop complexity through Darwinian evolution.” Source
Read More
14Mar 2022 by Post

New Animation on Topoisomerase Demonstrates Irrationality of Denying Design Evidence in Biology

amino acids, animation, ATP, biology, Danièle Gadelle, dehydration, DNA, double helix, early Earth, enzyme, Evolution, genomes, homochirality, hydration, Intelligent Design, intelligent designer, molecular machines, origin of life, Patrick Forterre, projection, psychology, replication, scientific materialism, supercoiling, topoisomerases, transcription
Replication or transcription of DNA stresses the macromolecule, resulting in supercoiling. Topoisomerase II relieves the stress. Source
Read More
24Feb 2022 by Post

Origin of Life Is Not Reducible to Physics

Anthropic Principle, biology, can opener, entropy, Eugene V. Koonin, Evolution, genes, handwaving, Intelligent Design, learning, natural selection, Neural Networks, origin of life, physics, second law of learning, Second Law of Thermodynamics, Theodosius Dobzhansky, thermodynamics, Thomas Malthus, universe, vitalism, Vitaly Vanchurin
This continues an evaluation of a proposal that treats natural selection as a law of physics that is applicable to the entire universe. Source
Read More
06Jan 2022 by Post

A New Flaw in the Miller-Urey Experiment, and a Few Old Ones

atmosphere, biology, biology textbooks, early Earth, Eric Anderson, Evolution, experiments, glassware, Harold Urey, ID The Future, Intelligent Design, Jonathan Wells, Miller-Urey experiment, origin of life, Podcast, Stanley Miller, textbooks, The Mystery of Life’s Origin, University of Chicago
It is an interesting finding, but as Wells explains, it is far from the first problem discovered with the experiment, nor the most serious one. Source
Read More