Paul Davies on the Origin of Life as an Information Problem

"Based on simple mathematical models, we think it may have happened suddenly, analogously to a heated gas abruptly bursting into flame." 

IDvolution - God “breathed” the super language of DNA into the “kinds” in the creative act.

Paul Davies on the Origin of Life as an Information Problem

The Guardian features an interesting article by Paul Davies: “The secret of life won’t be cooked up in a chemistry lab: Life’s origins may only be explained through a study of its unique management of information.” Davies writes, 

"If we cast the problem of life's origin in computer jargon, attempts at chemical synthesis focus exclusively on the hardware – the chemical substrate of life – but ignore the software – the informational aspect. To explain how life began we need to understand how its unique management of information came about.

To take a simple example; whether a cell expresses a gene can depend on mechanical stresses or electric fields acting on the whole cell by its environment. Thus, a change in global information (a pattern of force) at the macroscopic level translates into a change in local information movement at the microscopic level (switching on a gene). More generally, a range of signals received from its environment help to dictate how a cell's DNA is distributed and transcribed. Walker and I propose that the key transition on the road to life occurred when top-down information flow first predominated. Based on simple mathematical models, we think it may have happened suddenly, analogously to a heated gas abruptly bursting into flame"

Past 5,000 years prolific for changes to human genome

 

A study published today in Nature³ now helps to clarify when many of those rare variants arose. Researchers used deep sequencing to locate and date more than one million single-nucleotide variants — locations where a single letter of the DNA sequence is different from other individuals — in the genomes of 6,500 African and European Americans. The findings confirm their earlier work suggesting that the majority of variants, including potentially harmful ones, were picked up during the past 5,000–10,000 years. Researchers also saw the genetic stamp of the diverging migratory history of the two groups.

Where does the evidence lead?

Nice trailer for Intelligent Design showing just how high the odds are against chance starting life.


Where Does the Evidence Lead was created for classroom, group, and individual study. It is based upon the content of Unlocking the Mystery of Life and examines both Darwinian evolution and the scientific case for intelligent design. Six modules (eight to fourteen minutes in duration) each present a specific facet of the debate over the theories of materialistic evolution and design.
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Creation, Evolution and the Crisis of Faith: A Traditional Catholic Perspective

This is worth a listen.


On Monday, September 30, Mr. Hugh Owen, founder and director of the Kolbe Center for the Study of Creation, gave an insightful talk on Creation, Evolution and the Crisis of Faith: A Traditional Catholic Perspective. We caught it all on audio! Please click the link below to download the talk!
Creation, Evolution and the Crisis of Faith or View Below

Book Review: Darwin’s Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design

Slowly but surely we are finding life is more complex than we ever thought. From the review: Darwinism and Materialism: They Sink or Swim Together He quotes the information theorist Henry Quastler who stated that “the creation of information is habitually associated with conscious activity.”

 "Will Stephen Meyer’s Darwin’s Doubt be “the most despised science book” of 2013?"

 "Recently the Discovery Institute’s Stephen Meyer published Darwin’s Doubt, a book that raises many questions about the theory of evolution. As his title tells us, Darwin himself shared one of these doubts. The book has sold well, reaching #7 on the New York Times bestseller list, #4 on the Los Angeles Times list, and #10 on Publishers Weekly." “Darwin said that speciation occurred too slowly for us to see it. Gould and Eldredge said it occurred too quickly for us to see it. Either way we don’t see it.”

"Organisms are intelligently designed, says Meyer, who has a PhD from Cambridge University in the philosophy of science. His book is an education, demanding attentive reading but no specialized knowledge. To a large extent it uses the facts and arguments of professional biologists, some bordering on open dissent from the orthodoxy."

 So we see more support for IDvolution - God “breathed” the super language of DNA into the “kinds” in the creative act.

Human Genome in Meltdown

A previous post here - Dr. John Sanford "Genetic Entropy and the Mystery of the Genome" Below is additional support for IDvolution. Some quotes from Dr John Sanford on genetic entropy. Very consistent with IDvolution and Scripture. To get the full effect take the time to view the videos. Listen carefully where he states it is "kind of a trade secret of population geneticists." The design of the genome is astonishing and shows intelligence, design and purpose. "We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is a thought of God."Pope Benedict XVI

and now we have this in Nature. Analysis of 6,515 exomes reveals the recent origin of most human protein-coding variants 86% arose in the last 5-10,000 years.

Rocking the foundations of biology

Here it is again - top down - DNA is not the sole transmitter of inheritance - paper after paper is now showing the inheritance epigenetic information - information is the driver. >

Neo Darwinism crumbling......


A major revolution is occurring in evolutionary biology. In this video the President of the International Union of Physiological Sciences, Professor Denis Noble, explains what is happening and why it is set to change the nature of biology and of the importance of physiology to that change. The lecture was given to a general audience at a major international Congress held in Suzhou China. The implications of the change extend far beyond biology itself.

Physiology is rocking the foundations of evolutionary biology - article