One of the more peculiar objections to the design inference is the strident, often repeated claim that the genetic code is not a code, and that DNA and mRNA are not storing algorithmic, coded information used in protein synthesis. These are tied to the string (yes, s-t-r-i-n-g) data structure, a key foundational array for information Read More…
DNA
At Nature: “Dogma-defying bacteria package DNA in unusual ways”
Dogma? Defying dogma? “Bizarre”? These bacteria are just going about their usual business, unconscious of the dogmas some have chosen to promulgate about them. They were never obliged by any power in this world or any other to do only what the dogmatists insist they do.
UB’s notes on autocatalytic reaction sets vs languages and symbol systems
UB writes: UB, only way thread, 164: >>My apologies to Origenes, he had asked for my comment, but I was away . . . . I am no expert of course, but thank you for asking me to comment. Frankly you didn’t need my opinion anyway. When you ask “What is the error in supposing Read More…
Protein Synthesis . . . what frequent objector AF cannot acknowledge
Let us use a handy diagram of protein synthesis: [U/D, Sep 2:] Where, to clarify key terms, let us note a key, classic text, Lehninger, 8th edn: “The information in DNA is encoded in its linear (one-dimensional) sequence of deoxyribonucleotide subunits . . . . A linear sequence of deoxyribonucleotides in DNA codes (through an Read More…
At Live Science: Could extinct Tasmanian tigers be brought back from the dead?
“Can an extinct species be brought back to life? Scientists are taking a “giant leap” in that direction by using gene-editing to resurrect the Tasmanian tiger, a carnivorous marsupial from Australia and the continent’s only marsupial apex predator.”
At Sci News: Look-Alike Humans Have Similar DNA
“In their study, Dr. Esteller and his colleagues set out to characterize a set of look-alike humans on a molecular level.”
At Evolution News: From Intelligent Cause to Intelligent Design: My Debt to Charles Thaxton
Stephen C. Meyer shares, from the Foreword to the new memoir by Charles Thaxton, A Leg to Stand On:
At Mind Matters News: If DNA is a language, who is the speaker?
So, the pivotal question that the information content of DNA and other biomolecules raises is, can the relevant forces of nature, namely gravity and the electromagnetic forces, produce the complex, information-rich, functional biomolecules found within even unicellular organisms?
At Sci Tech Daily: Nanoscale Rotors Constructed From DNA – Smallest Flow-Driven Motors in the World
“Scientists have constructed the smallest flow-driven motors in the world. Inspired by iconic Dutch windmills and biological motor proteins, they created a self-configuring flow-driven rotor from DNA that converts energy from an electrical or salt gradient into useful mechanical work.”
Another, more nuanced, look at the Rosalind Franklin story
We’ve all heard the story, probably: That Rosalind Franklin (1920–1958) should have shared the Nobel Prize for the double helix with Francis Crick (1916–2004) and James Watson. Science writer Nicholas Wade has gone into the story in considerable detail and finds to be much more complex.
At Big Think: “Spooky” quantum biology might cause your DNA to mutate
Jenny Morber: Theoretical research suggests that quantum effects could drive mutations in human DNA. This is the latest development in an emerging field called quantum biology.