Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

Claim: We are making headway with the origin of life

Denyse O'Leary
April 21, 2021
Intelligent Design, Naturalism, Origin Of Life
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Anyway, we must say so every so often:

In 1863, Charles Darwin opined in a letter to a friend that contemplating the origin of life was “mere rubbish thinking” and that “one might as well think of [the] origin of matter.” Many researchers today would agree with Darwin. And yet, whereas cosmologists know how particles, elements, and many molecules formed after the big bang, biologists still struggle to explain how inorganic molecules turned into the stuff of life.

Adam Mann, “Inner Workings: Making headway with the mysteries of life’s origins” at PNAS

The article is an interesting summary of the various hypotheses on offer but it’s not like there are any big breakthroughs. However, actual breakthroughs are hardly the point. From a materialist perspective, the point is to keep up the pursuit of a random, non-intelligent origin of life. That’s all the success that is really required.

Chemist James Tour, of course:

Comments
The (evidence-free) RNA world was supposed to bridge the gap to the DNA world. The thinking was RNA was unstable and DNA was stable. Or at least more stable than RNA. But DNA doesn't do anything on its own. And it is very unstable. See The Origin of the Genetic Code,
“Each day our DNA is damaged by UV radiation, free radicals and other carcinogenic substances, but even without such external attacks, a DNA molecule is inherently unstable. Thousands of spontaneous changes to a cell’s genome occur on a daily basis. Furthermore, defects can also arise when DNA is copied during cell division, a process that occurs several million times every day in the human body. The reason our genetic material does not disintegrate into complete chemical chaos is that a host of molecular systems continuously monitor and repair DNA. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2015 awards three pioneering scientists who have mapped how several of these repair systems function at a detailed molecular level. In the early 1970s, scientists believed that DNA was an extremely stable molecule, but Tomas Lindahl demonstrated that DNA decays at a rate that ought to have made the development of life on Earth impossible. This insight led him to discover a molecular machinery, base excision repair, which constantly counteracts the collapse of our DNA.” (The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2015/press.html )
So it's quite the feat to go from the alleged RNA world to the DNA world. And they say ID requires magic... ET
Oh, whew! Glad to hear that we're not *losing* ground . . . and that the science fantasy fabrication industry can still churn out massive amounts of speculation for the gullible. -Q Querius
I strongly suggest to watch Dr. Tour OOL-lectures to learn that Darwinian researchers use purchased chemicals extracted from living organisms to perform their OOL experiments.... in other words, Darwinians cheat.... these experiments are one big joke PS: not to mention, they use various man-made tools e.g. Vacuum pumps for degassing etc... like i said, these experiments are one big joke martin_r
There is nothing logical about the Darwinian perspective when it comes to most things science related. According to Dawinists, the very laws of physics must have been put aside to get something from nothing when going from no-life to life. God, as something with vastly superior intellect than man, is the only rational explanation. BobRyan
Darwinian clowns.... martin_r

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