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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Beyond Genes: Biologists Seek Purpose in Unknown Substances, Processes

Andrew Nelson, Arabidopsis thaliana, Bernhard Kramer, biology, bok choy, Boyce Thompson Institute, Brassica rapa, cell's, central dogma, Cornell University, genome, Human Genome Project, Intelligent Design, Junk DNA, Kyle Palos, Life Sciences, lincRNA, Mars, mustard species, non-coding RNAs, Reductionism, RNA, The Plant Cell, turnips, University of Zurich
There’s more going on in DNA and cells than the old Central Dogma predicted. The time has come to look beyond genes. Source
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High Energy: Long Story Short Addresses “Energy Harnessing” and Life’s Origin

abiogenesis, ADP, ATP, ATP synthase, batteries, biopolymers, chemiosmotic coupling, drivetrain, Energy, energy harnessing, Evolution, gasoline, homeostasis, hydrothermal vents, Intelligent Design, lightning, Long Story Short, membranes, natural selection, origin of life, plants, promissory note, proton gradients, protons, regulators, RNA, self-replication, solar panels, sun, sunlight, transformers, volcanoes
Everyone knows that maintaining life requires energy, but most do not appreciate the intricate steps required to harness it. Source
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Origin of Life from Basalt Lava Glass? Sorry, No

Astrobiology (journal), basalt lava glass, Chemistry, cyclic trimetaphosphate, early Earth, earth, Evolution, Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution, intelligent agency, Intelligent Design, investigators, Jack Szostak, James Tour, Mars, natural processes, nickel borate, nucleoside triphosphates, nucleosides, nucleotides, origin of life, phosphates, ribonucleic acid, RNA, RNA world, rock glasses
An honest evaluation of the studies leads to the conclusion that the formation of RNA could not have occurred through any natural processes on the early earth. Source
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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
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How Plants Talk When We’re Not Around

anesthesia, associative learning, biology, Claude Bernard, communications, consciousness, fungi, gene expression, glutamate, Hailing Jin, heliotropism, Life Sciences, Mimosa pudica, miRNAs, nervous system, Neuroscience & Mind, plants, psychology, Rainer Hedrich, RNA, sensory hair, shameplant, TMAO, Venus flytrap, vernalization, worms
One genuine surprise in recent decades has been the discovery that plants have nervous systems like animals. Source
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Researchers: What’s Evolutionary Debris to You Is Unexplored Territory to Us

centromeres, DNA, Evolution, evolutionary processes, gene expression, Genome Research, human genome, Intelligent Design, Joe Felsenstein, John Avise, Junk DNA, Laurence Moran, Nicholas Matzke, nucleic acids, repetitive elements, researchers, RNA, T. Ryan Gregory, telomeres, transposable elements
From a new, open-access article, “Implications of the first complete human genome assembly.” Source
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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
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Evolution Is Not Like Physics

Animal Algorithms, asymmetric information flow, biology, Boyle’s Law, Casey Luskin, Darwin's Doubt, E = mc2, Eigen catastrophe, Elliott Sober, Eric Cassell, Ernst Mayr, Erwin Schrödinger, Eugene V. Koonin, Evolution, Granville Sewell, gravitation, Isaac Newton, Kirk Durston, National Academy of Sciences, National Institute for Biotechnology Information, naturalism, neo-Darwinian theory, No Free Lunch, physics, Physics, Earth & Space, PNAS, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, punctuated equilibria, Richard Weikart, RNA, Signature in the Cell, Stephen Meyer, thermodynamics, vitalism, Vitaly Vanchurin, William Dembski, Yuri I. Wolf
A new theory of evolution extends Darwinian processes, making them into physical laws based on “learning theory.” Source
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