Intelligent Design

That new UCSF paper is yet another example of the intricacies of DNA and gives us a teaching moment on how science can be done in a completely different way. Consider the blood protein hemoglobin found throughout the vertebrate species, illustrated here to show its four protein chains and their many helices. Each of the four chains has about 140 amino acids which are glued together in a long line, and then fold up into a glob. Those 140 amino acids are encoded by the corresponding DNA gene. In the gene, there are three DNA nucleotides for each amino acid. For instance, the figure below shows a short segment of a human and a horse gene, both of which code for a Read More ›

If you had a four-letter alphabet and all words were three letters, then how many words would there be? The answer is 4 times 4 times 4, or 4-cubed, or 4^3, or 64. That’s how the DNA code works. Our DNA has four molecular “letters” and to create a protein the letters are taken three at a time in words called “codons.” Each codon specifies an amino acid and these 64 different codons are mapped to 20 different amino acids (and a “stop” signal). Since the 64 different codons far exceeds the 20 different amino acids and the stop signal, the code is degenerate. In other words, there are multiple codons that map the same amino acid (just as “absurd” Read More ›

As evolutionists will tell you, it may seem like all the evidence is against evolution, but when you put them all together, and keep on repeating to yourself that evolution is true, then it makes sense. Well here’s one incredible example of just that. As insiders know, there were some, little known, bizarre aspects of the seemingly normal television show Little House on the Prairie. For instance there was the incredible increase in intelligence of the cast. This became particularly obvious by the final season when Michael Landon was teaching the little girls quantum mechanics on an Etch-a Sketch.  Read more

The Engineering and Metaphysics conference is fast approaching, and abstracts are due this weekend! If you plan on submitting an abstract, but need more time, send an email to submissions@eandm2012.com . We’ve already got several presentations approved, and we have several fantastic ones in the pipeline, including subjects such as constructal theory, theological implications of engineering, engineering approaches to pain and suffering, and others. The conference is in Oklahoma, and we have presenters coming in from across the nation – from as far east as Washington, D.C. and as far West as California. This will be a great conference – I hope you can come! A few of the presenters are even authors on UD. Anyway, whether you are interested Read More ›

About twenty years ago the television show Dallas was in trouble. The writers had eliminated a popular character named Bobby and the show was losing popularity. The writers realized their mistake and began thinking up ways to solve the problem. They finally decided that the previous year of programming would become nothing more than a dream in the mind of another character named Pam. It was a ridiculous solution, but it was all they had. A new show would begin with Pam restlessly awakening, only to discover Bobby was not dead, but alive and well. Everything was back to normal as Bobby announced to the loyal viewers at the 2:10 mark that “It’s over—none of that happened.” Dallas needed a do-over, and it got Read More ›

You’ve heard all those evolutionary arguments about how nature’s sloppy, repetitive, inefficient and downright evil designs prove evolution. Then what about the many optimized designs in biology, such as those in this New York Times article, suggested by a friend, such as our eye’s ability to detect even a single photon:  Read more