evolutionnewsandviews--2020-07-21--Censors Claim Teachers “Advocate Evolution” More Now Than in 2007 — Don’t Believe It

The censors at the dogmatically pro-Darwin National Center for Science Education ( NCSE ) are crowing about a recent survey they conducted , publicized in the journal Nature .
The NCSE says it shows that science teachers “ advocate evolution ” even more now than in 2007 .
Do you believe it ?
On a new episode of ID the Future , host Robert Crowther talks with Sarah Chaffee , Education and Public Policy Program Officer for the Center for Science & Culture , about the NCSE ’ s claims .
As Crowther and Chaffee reveal in their discussion , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pro-Darwinist outcome .
In fact , even teachers who follow Discovery Institute ’ s science education policy — promoting critical thinking skills by teaching biology students both the strengths and weaknesses of modern evolutionary theory — could be counted as evolution advocates by the survey .
Then , too , how likely are biology teachers with doubts about modern Darwinism to participate in a survey by an organization famously instrumental in attacking Darwin-doubting biology teachers ?
To do so knowingly , they would have to be on a willing path to career suicide @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it here .

Image credit: Pete Linforth via Pixabay.
The censors at the dogmatically pro-Darwin National Center for Science Education (NCSE) are crowing about a recent survey they conducted, publicized in the journal Nature. The NCSE says it shows that science teachers “advocate evolution” even more now than in 2007. Do you believe it? On a new episode of ID the Future, host Robert Crowther talks with Sarah Chaffee, Education and Public Policy Program Officer for the Center for Science & Culture, about the NCSE’s claims.
As Crowther and Chaffee reveal in their discussion, the survey appears gamed to produce a pro-Darwinist outcome. In fact, even teachers who follow Discovery Institute’s science education policy — promoting critical thinking skills by teaching biology students both the strengths and weaknesses of modern evolutionary theory — could be counted as evolution advocates by the survey.
Then, too, how likely are biology teachers with doubts about modern Darwinism to participate in a survey by an organization famously instrumental in attacking Darwin-doubting biology teachers? To do so knowingly, they would have to be on a willing path to career suicide. Download the podcast or listen to it here.


evolutionnewsandviews--2020-07-20--Totalitarianism Is Darwinism Applied to Politics

Philosopher Hannah Arendt is , in my view , the most perceptive analyst of totalitarianism .
In her magnum opus , The Origins of Totalitarianism , she points out that Darwinism played an essential role in the rise of totalitarian governments in the 20th century .
Arendt : Nazism was clearly inspired in no small part by Darwin ’ s theory , and Arendt notes that Marx and Engels explicitly credited Darwin with insights essential to Marxism .
She points out The word “ movement ” is the key to understanding the Darwinian foundation of totalitarianism .
Arendt is right @ @ @ @ @ @ @ precedent in human history .
It is an utterly new form of government .
Traditional governments — monarchy , aristocracy , oligarchy , autocracy , democracy , even tyranny — despite their substantial differences , are static , in the sense that they aim basically to preserve an ( often idealized ) social order .
Even the autocrat and the tyrant worked to maintain the status quo — their own unchallenged power .
Totalitarianism introduced a novel dynamic into human affairs .
Indeed , “ dynamic ” is the right word .
Totalitarianism @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Arendt does not mean the kind of internecine give-and-take one sees in democratic politics or even the kind of active violence one sees in tyranny .
She means massive compelled unidirectional movement — powerful forced flow of an entire nation in a single direction .
Totalitarians are always a minority — think of the Bolsheviks or the Nazis or the Maoists or the Khmer Rouge — and moving a nation the size of Russia or Germany or China or even Cambodia is a herculean task .
To accomplish this movement — analogous @ @ @ @ @ @ @ use three strategies that are at the core of totalitarian politics : atomization , terror , and paralysis .
A useful analogy ( mine , not Arendt ’ s ) is to think of traditional society as a glacier — a large mass of frozen ice , with its own characteristic shape and location .
It is , in any ordinary span of time , immobile .
Totalitarianism turns the glacier ( of people ) into a river , a torrent of liquid water in constant unidirectional motion .
To do so , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ atomization , terror , and paralysis .
Atomization is the radical isolation of each individual from every other individual .
Atomization breaks the bonds that hold society in its traditional shape — the breakage of family ties , of religious affinity , of ordinary social clubs and organizations , of labor unions , etc .
The goal is to disconnect every person from every other person , akin to melting a glacier into liquid water .
Terror is the means by which atomization is accomplished .
Terror is not just fear , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to a threat — I may have a fear of heights or of snakes .
I can assuage my fear by avoiding heights and snakes , and thus fear becomes a motivating factor that leads me to specific adaptive behaviors .
It is exactly this motivation that totalitarians seek to extinguish , because in the totalitarian paradigm , all of my movement must be controlled by the state .
Thus the totalitarian uses terror , which is something very different from fear .
The essential characteristic of terror that sets it apart from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Terror is constant dread of the unknown that can not be avoided or assuaged .
A Soviet citizen could not know when or if or where or why he would be arrested .
The knock on the door could come at home at night or at work at noon or on the street anytime .
It could be a warning or a deportation or a death sentence .
He could , at a moment ’ s notice , be on a train to Siberia , to serve a 3-year sentence or 15-year @ @ @ @ @ @ @ heard of or that was never quite specified or even no crime at all .
Or perhaps he would never be arrested , but live in a kind of suspended animation , waiting for the knock that never comes .
Totalitarian terror pervades life and extinguishes purposeful attainment of any ordinary individual goals .
Terror is the wait for the unknown .
Terror leads to atomization .
It is routine in totalitarian societies to arrest family and coworkers and even casual acquaintances of victims , simple due to their association with the accused @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of society , because self-isolation is the only strategy by which you can avoid joining your brother or co-worker or friend in Dachau or the basement of Lubyanka .
Atomization and terror create paralysis , which is the indispensable state of individuals in a totalitarian state .
Radical isolation from any social network and constant terror prevent individuals from acting on their own .
They are rendered docile , helpless and paralyzed .
This is the only state in which millions of people can be moved in a single direction with minimal effort @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of totalitarian rulers — often just a handful of fanatics — can commandeer a nation the size of Russia or Germany or China to move in a single direction .
And it is in movement — “ The Movement ” ( an apt name for totalitarian politics ) — that Darwin was so important to totalitarians .
All totalitarian movements justify their atomization , terrorizing , paralyzing and commandeering of a nation by the conviction that all of mankind is inexorably moving in a single direction via a process of violence .
This @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or on race .
The evolution of humanity from capitalism to dictatorship of the proletariat or from racial miscegenation to triumph of the Aryan race is ( in the totalitarian paradigm ) an evolution of nature by a dialectic of struggle .
Nature can not be denied or successfully resisted , and any temporary resistance is a denial of natural law , every bit as futile and insane as denial of gravity or natural selection .
Marxists and Nazis understood Darwinism as the paradigm in the natural sciences of what they were doing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Totalitarianism is ( as understood by its architects ) evolution by natural selection , red in tooth and claw .
Totalitarianism is facilitated evolution — Darwinism — applied to politics .
In this regard , our response to COVID-19 is a bit chilling .
Although some measures we take to contain the pandemic are beneficial , the measures replicate , in a way that makes me quite uncomfortable , the atomization , terror , and paralysis that are essential to totalitarian government .
Face masks , social distancing , prohibitions on religious or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fear of contagion are strikingly analogous to the routine measures used to impose totalitarian government .
COVID seems at times a bit like a 21st-century Reichstag fire .
The remarkable legal exceptions to the forced atomization and paralysis of our pandemic response — the casual permission granted to mass movements , to protest , vandalism , looting , rioting , and mass violence , which are ( bizarrely ) accompanied by strict prohibition of ordinary religious and social gathering — certainly has a totalitarian feel , regardless of the stated or actual intentions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to suggest that the response to COVID is a deliberate use of totalitarian tactics , but only a fool would deny that it at least has the flavor of a dry run .

Photo: Reichstag fire, February 27, 1933, via Wikimedia Commons.
Philosopher Hannah Arendt is, in my view, the most perceptive analyst of totalitarianism. In her magnum opus, The Origins of Totalitarianism, she points out that Darwinism played an essential role in the rise of totalitarian governments in the 20th century. Arendt:
Underlying the Nazi’s belief in race laws as the expression of the law of nature in man, is Darwin’s idea of man as the product of a natural development which does not necessarily stop with the present species of human beings, just as under the Bolsheviks’ belief in class-struggle as the expression of the law of history lies Marx’s notion of society as the product of a gigantic historical movement which races according to its own law of motion to the end of historical times when it will abolish itself.
Nazism was clearly inspired in no small part by Darwin’s theory, and Arendt notes that Marx and Engels explicitly credited Darwin with insights essential to Marxism. She points out
…the great and positive interest Marx took in Darwin’s theories; Engels could not think of a greater compliment to Marx’s scholarly achievements than to call him the “Darwin of history”… the movement of history and the movement of nature are one and the same.
An Unprecedented Phenomenon
The word “movement” is the key to understanding the Darwinian foundation of totalitarianism. Arendt is right to point out that totalitarianism has no precedent in human history. It is an utterly new form of government. Traditional governments — monarchy, aristocracy, oligarchy, autocracy, democracy, even tyranny — despite their substantial differences, are static, in the sense that they aim basically to preserve an (often idealized) social order. Even the autocrat and the tyrant worked to maintain the status quo — their own unchallenged power.
Totalitarianism introduced a novel dynamic into human affairs. Indeed, “dynamic” is the right word. Totalitarianism introduced movement into politics. By movement, Arendt does not mean the kind of internecine give-and-take one sees in democratic politics or even the kind of active violence one sees in tyranny. She means massive compelled unidirectional movement — powerful forced flow of an entire nation in a single direction. Totalitarians are always a minority — think of the Bolsheviks or the Nazis or the Maoists or the Khmer Rouge — and moving a nation the size of Russia or Germany or China or even Cambodia is a herculean task. To accomplish this movement — analogous to herding millions of livestock — totalitarians use three strategies that are at the core of totalitarian politics: atomization, terror, and paralysis.
A Glacier Becomes a River
A useful analogy (mine, not Arendt’s) is to think of traditional society as a glacier — a large mass of frozen ice, with its own characteristic shape and location. It is, in any ordinary span of time, immobile. Totalitarianism turns the glacier (of people) into a river, a torrent of liquid water in constant unidirectional motion. To do so, totalitarians must melt society, which entails atomization, terror, and paralysis.
Atomization is the radical isolation of each individual from every other individual. Atomization breaks the bonds that hold society in its traditional shape — the breakage of family ties, of religious affinity, of ordinary social clubs and organizations, of labor unions, etc. The goal is to disconnect every person from every other person, akin to melting a glacier into liquid water.
Terror, Not Just Fear
Terror is the means by which atomization is accomplished. Terror is not just fear, in the ordinary sense. Fear is specific to a threat — I may have a fear of heights or of snakes. I can assuage my fear by avoiding heights and snakes, and thus fear becomes a motivating factor that leads me to specific adaptive behaviors. It is exactly this motivation that totalitarians seek to extinguish, because in the totalitarian paradigm, all of my movement must be controlled by the state. Thus the totalitarian uses terror, which is something very different from fear. The essential characteristic of terror that sets it apart from fear is terror’s absolute unpredictability. Terror is constant dread of the unknown that cannot be avoided or assuaged. A Soviet citizen could not know when or if or where or why he would be arrested. The knock on the door could come at home at night or at work at noon or on the street anytime. It could be a warning or a deportation or a death sentence. He could, at a moment’s notice, be on a train to Siberia, to serve a 3-year sentence or 15-year sentence for a crime he had never heard of or that was never quite specified or even no crime at all. Or perhaps he would never be arrested, but live in a kind of suspended animation, waiting for the knock that never comes. Totalitarian terror pervades life and extinguishes purposeful attainment of any ordinary individual goals. Terror is the wait for the unknown.
Terror leads to atomization. It is routine in totalitarian societies to arrest family and coworkers and even casual acquaintances of victims, simple due to their association with the accused. This leads to a radical atomization of society, because self-isolation is the only strategy by which you can avoid joining your brother or co-worker or friend in Dachau or the basement of Lubyanka.
Atomization and terror create paralysis, which is the indispensable state of individuals in a totalitarian state. Radical isolation from any social network and constant terror prevent individuals from acting on their own. They are rendered docile, helpless and paralyzed. This is the only state in which millions of people can be moved in a single direction with minimal effort — the only way that a minority of totalitarian rulers — often just a handful of fanatics — can commandeer a nation the size of Russia or Germany or China to move in a single direction.
And it is in movement — “The Movement” (an apt name for totalitarian politics) — that Darwin was so important to totalitarians. All totalitarian movements justify their atomization, terrorizing, paralyzing and commandeering of a nation by the conviction that all of mankind is inexorably moving in a single direction via a process of violence. This may be a conflict based on class or on race. The evolution of humanity from capitalism to dictatorship of the proletariat or from racial miscegenation to triumph of the Aryan race is (in the totalitarian paradigm) an evolution of nature by a dialectic of struggle. Nature cannot be denied or successfully resisted, and any temporary resistance is a denial of natural law, every bit as futile and insane as denial of gravity or natural selection.
Marxists and Nazis understood Darwinism as the paradigm in the natural sciences of what they were doing in the economic and social sciences. Totalitarianism is (as understood by its architects) evolution by natural selection, red in tooth and claw. Totalitarianism is facilitated evolution — Darwinism — applied to politics.
Our Reichstag Fire?
In this regard, our response to COVID-19 is a bit chilling. Although some measures we take to contain the pandemic are beneficial, the measures replicate, in a way that makes me quite uncomfortable, the atomization, terror, and paralysis that are essential to totalitarian government. Face masks, social distancing, prohibitions on religious or social gathering, and pervasive uncertainty and fear of contagion are strikingly analogous to the routine measures used to impose totalitarian government. COVID seems at times a bit like a 21st-century Reichstag fire. The remarkable legal exceptions to the forced atomization and paralysis of our pandemic response — the casual permission granted to mass movements, to protest, vandalism, looting, rioting, and mass violence, which are (bizarrely) accompanied by strict prohibition of ordinary religious and social gathering — certainly has a totalitarian feel, regardless of the stated or actual intentions of our policy-makers.
This is not to suggest that the response to COVID is a deliberate use of totalitarian tactics, but only a fool would deny that it at least has the flavor of a dry run.
Photo: Reichstag fire, February 27, 1933, via Wikimedia Commons.


evolutionnewsandviews--2020-07-20--Strickberger’s Evolution Textbook Promotes False Evolutionary Icons

Editor ’ s note : Dr. Shedinger is a Professor of Religion at Luther College in Decorah , Iowa .
He is the author of a recent book critiquing Darwinian triumphalism , The Mystery of Evolutionary Mechanisms .
See also the earlier entries in this series : Twenty years ago , Jonathan Wells published one of the seminal books of the intelligent design movement , Icons of Evolution .
Wells demonstrated how biology textbooks perpetuate a standard set of ideas and images purporting to support Darwinian evolution even though these iconic ideas and images are far more ambiguous than the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the appearance of some of these icons in Strickberger ’ s Evolution textbook , as edited and updated by Brian K. Hall and Benedikt Hallgrimsson , which I have been reviewing .
Rather than being grouped together in a chapter regarding evidence for evolution , the icons are scattered about and appear in discussions of issues that they are said to illustrate or illuminate in some way .
For example , Darwin ’ s Finches appear in a chapter about Charles Darwin , with the famous work by Peter and Rosemary Grant being @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Here we learn that the Grants have shown how “ Natural selection can produce evolutionary change very rapidly but that the direction of selection in particular populations can change frequently and unpredictably as environmental conditions fluctuate.
” This is an accurate summary of the Grants ’ work , yet Hall and Hallgrimsson can ’ t leave well enough alone .
They feel compelled to continue : Actually , by documenting the oscillating nature of the changes in finch beaks , the Grants have demonstrated that natural selection has the power to produce only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ little about larger evolutionary processes and trends .
We turn next to Ernst Haeckel ’ s famous embryo drawings .
In a section on embryology , Strickberger ’ s Evolution reproduces Haeckel ’ s iconic drawings showing various vertebrate embryos in three stages of development .
In an accompanying caption we read , “ Although Haeckel took some liberties in drawing these figures , the earlier stages are more similar to one another.
” If Haeckel took liberties in his drawings , then how do we know that the earlier stages really do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them look more similar than they actually do .
Why are these more than century-old drawings even in the textbook instead of modern digital photographs of embryos ?
We do know today that Haeckel ’ s earlier stage of development is actually a later stage , and that embryos look quite different in their true earlier stage .
But the textbook ignores this important information .
Moreover , Hall and Hallgrimsson have deftly dropped in a reference to the appearance of “ pharyngeal ( gill ) arches ” in the earlier stage of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pharyngeal arches ” is correct , but placing gill in parentheses subtly perpetuates the discredited idea that embryos of terrestrial vertebrates bear the marks of marine ancestors .
Next , in a section on gene regulation , we find the familiar image of the four-winged fruit fly .
In the surrounding text , we learn that mutations in regulatory genes that govern development probably play a significant role in evolution since they can alter the development of entire parts of an organism .
The iconic example of this is , of course , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that “ converts the abdominal segment into a thoracic segment and abdominal appendages ( halteres ) into thoracic appendages ( wings ) .
” Therefore : Nowhere in this discussion is it ever mentioned that the mutant fruit flies ’ extra pair of wings are nonfunctional .
Far from being a useful evolutionary adaptation , they render the fly a cripple and therefore an evolutionary dead end .
This is why all the fruit flies currently buzzing around the bananas in my kitchen have only one pair of wings !
The Most Pervasive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we move to perhaps the most pervasive icon of them all , the peppered moth .
Introduced in a section titled “ Polymorphism and Industrial Melanism , ” a basic error of definition is made when Hall and Hallgrimsson write , “ Certain moths and butterflies show increased proportions of dark-colored compared to melanic forms… ” Of course , melanic forms are the dark-colored ones !
Next , we are introduced to the experimental work of Bernard Kettlewell , which we are told showed industrial melanism to be an example of natural selection @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : We now know that peppered moths in the wild do not rest by day on tree trunks but on horizontal branches high in the canopy where they are hidden by leaves , no matter their color .
Kettlewell ’ s experiments did not replicate the experience of moths in the wild and his work has been harshly criticized on a number of methodological grounds .
Interestingly , we read in an accompanying footnote , “ See Brakefield ( 1998 ) and Majerus ( 1998 ) for melanism , and see Hooper ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the peppered moth.
” Majerus ( 1998 ) is a reference to Michael Majerus ’ s book on industrial melanism that actually lays out in great detail all the methodological problems with Kettlewell ’ s experiments .
In fact , it was the reading of Majerus ’ s book that led well-known Darwinian biologist Jerry Coyne to admit the embarrassment he felt about teaching the standard peppered moth story to students for years , not realizing the problems with it .
He likens his reaction to the shock he experienced as a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his father , not Santa , who brought the presents at Christmas !
Hooper ( 2002 ) refers to science writer Judith Hooper ’ s book Of Moths and Men : Intrigue , Tragedy , and the Peppered Moth .
Hooper ’ s book came under considerable criticism : by Coyne for downplaying the significance of industrial melanism as an example of natural selection , and by Majerus for its character assassination of moth specialists .
Considering Majerus ’ s criticism of Kettlewell , and Coyne and Majerus ’ s criticism of Hooper @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hallgrimsson even know the contents of the books they cite .
If they had read Majerus , they never could have written what they did about Kettlewell .
In a caption below a picture showing birds eyeing dark and light-colored moths on a polluted tree trunk , we find this startling passage : This is essentially correct , but it contradicts the accompanying picture showing birds eyeing moths on tree trunks !
A picture is worth a thousand words , and few students will read the caption .
This allows Hall and Hallgrimsson @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the ambiguity here , but the attempt is disingenuous at best .
Besides , this caption also contradicts what they have said about Kettlewell in the main text .
It is clear what they want students to take away from the peppered moth story .
Additionally , Strickberger ’ s Evolution fails to mention the work of G. T. Porritt , who in 1907 noted the invasion of dark-colored moths into pristine woodlands where they thrived .
This is completely contrary to what natural selection should produce .
Industrial melanism is indeed a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ selection .
But you would never know this from the textbook .
One final icon referenced by Strickberger ’ s Evolution is junk DNA ( included in Wells ’ s follow-up book Zombie Science ) .
Hall and Hallgrimsson note that 97 percent of human DNA is non-coding and may be referred to as junk .
But we know from the ENCODE project that much of this “ junk ” may have important regulatory functions , a prediction actually made by intelligent design advocates .
It is clear that in updating Strickberger ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not want to place all the icons of evolution together in a chapter on evidence for evolution , recognizing the problematic nature of many of these icons .
Yet it also clear that they still wanted to include them while downplaying their problematic nature .
In short , the attempt is disingenuous .
Students deserve the full picture , warts and all .

Photo credit: Ben Sale, via Flickr (cropped).
Editor’s note: Dr. Shedinger is a Professor of Religion at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. He is the author of a recent book critiquing Darwinian triumphalism, The Mystery of Evolutionary Mechanisms. See also the earlier entries in this series:
Twenty years ago, Jonathan Wells published one of the seminal books of the intelligent design movement, Icons of Evolution. Wells demonstrated how biology textbooks perpetuate a standard set of ideas and images purporting to support Darwinian evolution even though these iconic ideas and images are far more ambiguous than the textbooks portray. Here I will consider the appearance of some of these icons in Strickberger’s Evolution textbook, as edited and updated by Brian K. Hall and Benedikt Hallgrimsson, which I have been reviewing.
Rather than being grouped together in a chapter regarding evidence for evolution, the icons are scattered about and appear in discussions of issues that they are said to illustrate or illuminate in some way. For example, Darwin’s Finches appear in a chapter about Charles Darwin, with the famous work by Peter and Rosemary Grant being relegated to a peripheral text box. Here we learn that the Grants have shown how “Natural selection can produce evolutionary change very rapidly but that the direction of selection in particular populations can change frequently and unpredictably as environmental conditions fluctuate.” This is an accurate summary of the Grants’ work, yet Hall and Hallgrimsson can’t leave well enough alone. They feel compelled to continue:
By documenting evolution in action in natural populations, the work of the Grants has made profound contributions to our understanding of the evolutionary process.
Actually, by documenting the oscillating nature of the changes in finch beaks, the Grants have demonstrated that natural selection has the power to produce only small-scale adaptations, a process that says little about larger evolutionary processes and trends.
Haeckel’s Embryos
We turn next to Ernst Haeckel’s famous embryo drawings. In a section on embryology, Strickberger’s Evolution reproduces Haeckel’s iconic drawings showing various vertebrate embryos in three stages of development. In an accompanying caption we read, “Although Haeckel took some liberties in drawing these figures, the earlier stages are more similar to one another.” If Haeckel took liberties in his drawings, then how do we know that the earlier stages really do look more similar? Perhaps Haeckel made them look more similar than they actually do. Why are these more than century-old drawings even in the textbook instead of modern digital photographs of embryos?
We do know today that Haeckel’s earlier stage of development is actually a later stage, and that embryos look quite different in their true earlier stage. But the textbook ignores this important information. Moreover, Hall and Hallgrimsson have deftly dropped in a reference to the appearance of “pharyngeal (gill) arches” in the earlier stage of the embryos. The modern terminology “pharyngeal arches” is correct, but placing gill in parentheses subtly perpetuates the discredited idea that embryos of terrestrial vertebrates bear the marks of marine ancestors.
Fruit Flies and Gene Regulation
Next, in a section on gene regulation, we find the familiar image of the four-winged fruit fly. In the surrounding text, we learn that mutations in regulatory genes that govern development probably play a significant role in evolution since they can alter the development of entire parts of an organism. The iconic example of this is, of course, the fruit fly that undergoes a mutation that “converts the abdominal segment into a thoracic segment and abdominal appendages (halteres) into thoracic appendages (wings).” Therefore:
…there are compelling reasons for the view that mutations in regulatory genes are of great importance in evolution.
Nowhere in this discussion is it ever mentioned that the mutant fruit flies’ extra pair of wings are nonfunctional. Far from being a useful evolutionary adaptation, they render the fly a cripple and therefore an evolutionary dead end. This is why all the fruit flies currently buzzing around the bananas in my kitchen have only one pair of wings!
The Most Pervasive Icon of All
From crippled fruit flies we move to perhaps the most pervasive icon of them all, the peppered moth. Introduced in a section titled “Polymorphism and Industrial Melanism,” a basic error of definition is made when Hall and Hallgrimsson write, “Certain moths and butterflies show increased proportions of dark-colored compared to melanic forms…” Of course, melanic forms are the dark-colored ones!
Next, we are introduced to the experimental work of Bernard Kettlewell, which we are told showed industrial melanism to be an example of natural selection in action driven by differential bird predation:
The relative fitness of the melanic types may lie, at least partly, in their ability to remain concealed from bird predators on darkened twigs or tree trunks.
We now know that peppered moths in the wild do not rest by day on tree trunks but on horizontal branches high in the canopy where they are hidden by leaves, no matter their color. Kettlewell’s experiments did not replicate the experience of moths in the wild and his work has been harshly criticized on a number of methodological grounds.
Interestingly, we read in an accompanying footnote, “See Brakefield (1998) and Majerus (1998) for melanism, and see Hooper (2002) for the history of research on the peppered moth.” Majerus (1998) is a reference to Michael Majerus’s book on industrial melanism that actually lays out in great detail all the methodological problems with Kettlewell’s experiments. In fact, it was the reading of Majerus’s book that led well-known Darwinian biologist Jerry Coyne to admit the embarrassment he felt about teaching the standard peppered moth story to students for years, not realizing the problems with it. He likens his reaction to the shock he experienced as a child when he learned that it was his father, not Santa, who brought the presents at Christmas!
Hooper (2002) refers to science writer Judith Hooper’s book Of Moths and Men: Intrigue, Tragedy, and the Peppered Moth. Hooper’s book came under considerable criticism: by Coyne for downplaying the significance of industrial melanism as an example of natural selection, and by Majerus for its character assassination of moth specialists.
Considering Majerus’s criticism of Kettlewell, and Coyne and Majerus’s criticism of Hooper, one must wonder if Hall and Hallgrimsson even know the contents of the books they cite. If they had read Majerus, they never could have written what they did about Kettlewell.
In a caption below a picture showing birds eyeing dark and light-colored moths on a polluted tree trunk, we find this startling passage:
Although trees are commonly shown as resting sites for these moths, their actual habits are unknown. Some evolutionary biologists suggest caution in crediting color camouflage as the full explanation for Biston betularia polymorphism.
This is essentially correct, but it contradicts the accompanying picture showing birds eyeing moths on tree trunks! A picture is worth a thousand words, and few students will read the caption. This allows Hall and Hallgrimsson to claim that they are not misrepresenting the ambiguity here, but the attempt is disingenuous at best. Besides, this caption also contradicts what they have said about Kettlewell in the main text. It is clear what they want students to take away from the peppered moth story.
Additionally, Strickberger’s Evolution fails to mention the work of G. T. Porritt, who in 1907 noted the invasion of dark-colored moths into pristine woodlands where they thrived. This is completely contrary to what natural selection should produce. Industrial melanism is indeed a complex process not clearly explainable by natural selection. But you would never know this from the textbook.
A Final Icon
One final icon referenced by Strickberger’s Evolution is junk DNA (included in Wells’s follow-up book Zombie Science). Hall and Hallgrimsson note that 97 percent of human DNA is non-coding and may be referred to as junk. But we know from the ENCODE project that much of this “junk” may have important regulatory functions, a prediction actually made by intelligent design advocates.
It is clear that in updating Strickberger’s Evolution, Hall and Hallgrimsson did not want to place all the icons of evolution together in a chapter on evidence for evolution, recognizing the problematic nature of many of these icons. Yet it also clear that they still wanted to include them while downplaying their problematic nature. In short, the attempt is disingenuous. Students deserve the full picture, warts and all.


evolutionnewsandviews--2020-07-20--Humans Were Designed to Harness Fire

Humans Were Designed to Harness Fire

Editor ’ s note : Today , we are pleased to present a new series adapted from biologist Michael Denton ’ s book , Fire-Maker : How Humans Were Designed to Harness Fire and Transform Our Planet , from Discovery Institute Press .
Look for new entries in the series here .
Dr. Denton ’ s forthcoming book , The Miracle of the Cell , will be published in September .
As I write , a small mobile robot named Curiosity is searching the sands of another planet , Mars , for signs of life .
As it explores the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ analyzes the Martian soils for organic chemicals and water .
Powered by a solar battery , the robot will be able to function for several years without any assistance from its creators , who are millions of miles away busily decoding and analyzing the cryptic messages it beams back to Earth .
Curiosity is just one of a universe of current technological marvels .
The wonders of 21st-century technology amaze .
A mere 200 generations since the first metal tool was manufactured , technology has reached the stage when its accomplishments increasingly resemble @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a form of magic .
The dramatic technological advances over the past hundred years have provided extraordinary devices that have enabled human beings to gain enormous knowledge of the natural world — from the structure of the cosmos to the structure of DNA — more than in all previous centuries .
Using light and radio telescopes , we have peered at distant galaxies , billions of light years from Earth .
We have looked back to the beginning of time , to the fireball in which our universe was born .
We have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ determined its dimension .
We have detected other earths orbiting distant stars and estimated the number in our galaxy alone to be in the order of tens of billions !
1 We have discovered how atoms are synthesized in the stars .
The technological wonders of our current civilization — and the deep scientific insights they have provided into the fundamental nature of reality — were not gained easily .
They grew out of a long series of technological discoveries and advances that , over several thousand years , led our species from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ magic of 21st-century nano-technology — from making a stone chisel to making a Boeing 747 .
Of all the discoveries made in the course of mankind ’ s long march to civilization , there was one primal discovery that made the realization of all this possible .
It ’ s a discovery we use every day and take completely for granted .
But this discovery changed everything .
Humankind discovered how to make and tame fire .
Darwin rightly saw it as “ Probably the greatest [ discovery ] , excepting language , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Arnaud Cassan , Daniel Kubas , Jean-Philippe Beaulieu , Martin Dominik , Keith Horne , J. Greenhill , J. Wambsganss , John Menzies , et al.
, “ One or More Bound Planets per Milky Way Star from Microlensing Observations , ” Nature 481 ( January 11 , 2012 ) : 167–169 .
• Charles Darwin , The Descent of Man and Selection in Relationship to Sex , vol .
1 , 1st ed .
( London : John Murray , 1871 ) , 137 .

Photo: Curiosity rover on Mars, by NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Editor’s note: Today, we are pleased to present a new series adapted from biologist Michael Denton’s book, Fire-Maker: How Humans Were Designed to Harness Fire and Transform Our Planet, from Discovery Institute Press. Look for new entries in the series here. Dr. Denton’s forthcoming book, The Miracle of the Cell, will be published in September.
The ancient Greeks, who had an answer to most things, believed that Prometheus brought down fire from heaven — and got himself into much trouble with Zeus for doing so. “From bright fire,” says Aeschylus in Prometheus Vinctus, “they will learn many arts.” A.J. Wilson, The Living Rock (1994)
As I write, a small mobile robot named Curiosity is searching the sands of another planet, Mars, for signs of life. As it explores the Martian surface, a tiny automated laboratory analyzes the Martian soils for organic chemicals and water. Powered by a solar battery, the robot will be able to function for several years without any assistance from its creators, who are millions of miles away busily decoding and analyzing the cryptic messages it beams back to Earth.
Just 200 Generations
Curiosity is just one of a universe of current technological marvels. The wonders of 21st-century technology amaze. A mere 200 generations since the first metal tool was manufactured, technology has reached the stage when its accomplishments increasingly resemble what would have seemed to our ancestors a form of magic.
The dramatic technological advances over the past hundred years have provided extraordinary devices that have enabled human beings to gain enormous knowledge of the natural world — from the structure of the cosmos to the structure of DNA — more than in all previous centuries. Using light and radio telescopes, we have peered at distant galaxies, billions of light years from Earth. We have looked back to the beginning of time, to the fireball in which our universe was born. We have estimated the age of the universe and determined its dimension. We have detected other earths orbiting distant stars and estimated the number in our galaxy alone to be in the order of tens of billions!1 We have discovered how atoms are synthesized in the stars.
Technological Wonders
The technological wonders of our current civilization — and the deep scientific insights they have provided into the fundamental nature of reality — were not gained easily. They grew out of a long series of technological discoveries and advances that, over several thousand years, led our species from a primitive Stone Age technology to the magic of 21st-century nano-technology — from making a stone chisel to making a Boeing 747.
Of all the discoveries made in the course of mankind’s long march to civilization, there was one primal discovery that made the realization of all this possible. It’s a discovery we use every day and take completely for granted. But this discovery changed everything.
Humankind discovered how to make and tame fire.
Darwin rightly saw it as “Probably the greatest [discovery], excepting language, ever made by man.”2
Tomorrow, “Fire and Metals — Primal Discoveries.”
Notes


evolutionnewsandviews--2020-07-21--Memory Purge: Eugenicist Margaret Sanger Gets Canceled by Planned Parenthood

File this under empty concessions to cancel culture .
Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger was a racist and a eugenicist , her ugly views tied up with the Darwinist thinking prevalent in her own time as it is today .
Now the abortion provider ’ s Manhattan clinic has said it will strip her name from their building and has asked New York City to erase her from street signs .
Historical statues are a dispersed temple to memory , in need of vigilant guarding .
My own memory , like yours , includes things I ’ m proud of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ proud of .
We would hate to lose any of it , the good or the bad , which is why sensitive people loathe the current wave of unchecked vandalism .
I asked earlier today if statues of Charles Darwin will come down at the hands of the marauders , given the vital work his writing has done in justifying scientific racism , eugenics , and genocide .
( For more on that , see the documentary Human Zoos , below . )
But what about another key and linked figure in history @ @ @ @ @ @ @ racist eugenic measures and did not shy from addressing a KKK rally .
Yet she ’ s honored by a bust in the National Portrait Gallery ’ s civil rights exhibit , of all places .
Pictured at the top of this post , that is the “ civil rights ” heroine ’ s bust in the National Portrait Gallery .
I noted , too : It certainly wasn ’ t my intention to contribute to sparking a memory purge .
But that ’ s what Planned Parenthood is up to now .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Greater New York is removing the name of Margaret Sanger , the founder of the nation ’ s largest abortion provider , from its New York City clinic due to her “ harmful connection to the eugenics movement , ” the group said Tuesday .
The announcement comes after more than 350 current and former staffers at the Manhattan clinic , as well as 800 donors , supporters and volunteers , called Sanger “ a racist , white woman.
” An open letter on June 18 to Planned Parenthood of Greater New York @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in white supremacy , ” the Washington Times reports .
For decades , pro-life activists pointed out Sanger ’ s racism , but in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement , Planned Parenthood said it is addressing the problem .
“ The removal of Margaret Sanger ’ s name from our building is both a necessary and overdue step to reckon with our legacy and acknowledge Planned Parenthood ’ s contributions to historical reproductive harm within communities of color , ” Karen Seltzer , the chair of the New York affiliate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ statement… .
Sanger launched the Negro Project , in 1939 , which was aimed at “ helping Negroes to control their birthrate , ” while advocating for a federal “ population bureau ” to police reproduction .
If Planned Parenthood really sought to “ reckon with [ their ] legacy , ” and “ address the problem , ” they would have to change their whole business model not merely remove Sanger ’ s name from a building .
As Ben Carson points out , “ [ Sanger ] was not particularly enamored @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the reasons that you find most of their [ Planned Parenthood ] clinics in black neighborhoods is so that you can find a way to control that population.
” The abortion provider would also need to “ reckon ” with the place of evolutionary ideology in Sanger ’ s thinking .
In an article at The Stream , John West has traced “ The Line Running from Charles Darwin through Margaret Sanger to Planned Parenthood “ : Sanger as a historical figure is impossible to understand without recalling the legacy of evolutionary thinking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ harrowing documentary Human Zoos .
All this remains unaddressed by Planned Parenthood , which appears to seek , instead , a way to quiet a controversy without searching its own soul .

Photo: Bust of Margaret Sanger, National Portrait Gallery, by Cliff, via Flickr.
File this under empty concessions to cancel culture. Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger was a racist and a eugenicist, her ugly views tied up with the Darwinist thinking prevalent in her own time as it is today. Now the abortion provider’s Manhattan clinic has said it will strip her name from their building and has asked New York City to erase her from street signs.
“Civil Rights” Heroine
I wrote previously:
Historical statues are a dispersed temple to memory, in need of vigilant guarding. My own memory, like yours, includes things I’m proud of things and things I’m not proud of. We would hate to lose any of it, the good or the bad, which is why sensitive people loathe the current wave of unchecked vandalism. I asked earlier today if statues of Charles Darwin will come down at the hands of the marauders, given the vital work his writing has done in justifying scientific racism, eugenics, and genocide. (For more on that, see the documentary Human Zoos, below.) But what about another key and linked figure in history? Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger advocated racist eugenic measures and did not shy from addressing a KKK rally. Yet she’s honored by a bust in the National Portrait Gallery’s civil rights exhibit, of all places.
Pictured at the top of this post, that is the “civil rights” heroine’s bust in the National Portrait Gallery. I noted, too:
She would not have liked the look of New York City today, where there is a Margaret Sanger Square not far from Washington Square Park, a site of recent Black Lives Matter protests.
A Memory Purge
It certainly wasn’t my intention to contribute to sparking a memory purge. But that’s what Planned Parenthood is up to now. From Fox News:
Planned Parenthood of Greater New York is removing the name of Margaret Sanger, the founder of the nation’s largest abortion provider, from its New York City clinic due to her “harmful connection to the eugenics movement,” the group said Tuesday. The announcement comes after more than 350 current and former staffers at the Manhattan clinic, as well as 800 donors, supporters and volunteers, called Sanger “a racist, white woman.” An open letter on June 18 to Planned Parenthood of Greater New York, criticized the organization as “steeped in white supremacy,” the Washington Times reports. For decades, pro-life activists pointed out Sanger’s racism, but in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, Planned Parenthood said it is addressing the problem. “The removal of Margaret Sanger’s name from our building is both a necessary and overdue step to reckon with our legacy and acknowledge Planned Parenthood’s contributions to historical reproductive harm within communities of color,” Karen Seltzer, the chair of the New York affiliate’s board, said in a statement…. Sanger launched the Negro Project, in 1939, which was aimed at “helping Negroes to control their birthrate,” while advocating for a federal “population bureau” to police reproduction.
Evolutionary Ideology
If Planned Parenthood really sought to “reckon with [their] legacy,” and “address the problem,” they would have to change their whole business model not merely remove Sanger’s name from a building. As Ben Carson points out, “[Sanger] was not particularly enamored with black people. And one of the reasons that you find most of their [Planned Parenthood] clinics in black neighborhoods is so that you can find a way to control that population.”
The abortion provider would also need to “reckon” with the place of evolutionary ideology in Sanger’s thinking. In an article at The Stream, John West has traced “The Line Running from Charles Darwin through Margaret Sanger to Planned Parenthood“:
In Sanger’s view, humanitarianism threatened to swamp America with a tidal wave of the “feeble-minded.” As I explain in my book Darwin Day in America, feeblemindedness was an expansive category that included many people who today wouldn’t be considered mentally handicapped, including members of races (like blacks) considered by Darwinian biologists of the time to be “lower” on the evolutionary scale.
Sanger as a historical figure is impossible to understand without recalling the legacy of evolutionary thinking and scientific racism, detailed in the harrowing documentary Human Zoos. All this remains unaddressed by Planned Parenthood, which appears to seek, instead, a way to quiet a controversy without searching its own soul.


evolutionnewsandviews--2020-07-21--In Cells and Whole Organisms, Repair Mechanisms Imply Foresight, Not Evolution

Cells and organisms come pre-equipped with repair mechanisms .
It takes foresight to make complex tools and procedures that can restore the functions of other tools .
A blind process like evolution can only see the immediate present ; it would be unconcerned about what happens next .
Repair implies something worth saving .
The more delicate the product , the more elaborate the maintenance .
Life is worth saving and it is delicate .
Logically , therefore , the persistence of life presupposes elaborate repair systems are at work .
The following research findings show just how complex some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is a kind of repair strategy that truly would require foresight .
A skilled orthopedic surgeon can look at a broken bone and , through years of training , know that before setting it , he needs to make the break worse .
In a compound fracture , for instance , bending the bone farther can allow splintered bones to be put back together .
Additionally , assistants in the operating room can apply materials or medicines while the surgeon holds the fracture open .
Something like that happens in the nucleus or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Berkeley National Lab .
“ Sometimes , when something is broken , the first step to fixing it is to break it even more.
” A molecular machine named XPG could be dubbed an “ orthogenic surgeon ” ( ortho- meaning straight ) .
Natural selection would never do this .
First of all , how would XPG recognize a problem that doesn ’ t affect it directly , and how would it know to make a beeline for something else ’ s problem ?
Then , if by some accident of chance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would it “ know ” how to perform the next surgical step ?
XPG would be out of a job , rushing toward discontinuous DNA like a blind driver on a demolition derby , breaking genes here and there , killing the organism by a thousand cuts .
Instead , look what it does : The scientists call this a “ protein with many jobs ” that “ is more like a master sculptor than a demolition crew.
” Without XPG , a person can incur “ devastating symptoms ” of diseases .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ faulty XPG are described in the press release .
Often “ single amino acid substitutions can destabilize the entire protein , ” they say .
If that doesn ’ t clinch the case for design , consider also that the Lawrence Berkeley team found that XPG cooperates with other repair machines like BRCA1 and BRCA2 .
An entire operating-room team has the foresight to perform “ orthogenic surgery ” on DNA .
The Darwin-free paper is published in PNAS.1 The brain is busier than a city all the time , even in sleep @ @ @ @ @ @ @ issue can not be overlooked : how to dispose of dead cells .
A recent article at Evolution News described how the “ cellular morgue ” takes care of the problem .
In the brain , it is even more vital to quickly eliminate dead cells .
A team at Yale School of Medicine heard “ music ” inside the skull : they found that astrocytes and microglia perform “ orchestrated roles and respect phagocytic territories during neuronal corpse removal ” in the brain .
Each player knows its part .
Their research @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was also Darwin-free except for an opening pinch of incense in the first sentence , “ Cell death is an evolutionarily conserved and ubiquitous process ” — a useless offering that contributes nothing to the science except to show that evolution was not observed .
Every human life has value , even those with genetic defects ( and which human being does not suffer from several ? )
.
What ’ s important to the argument for intelligent design from foresight is how carefully the body practices preventative medicine on the developing embryo @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Fortunately , these young embryos perform their own “ quality control ” before most genetic abnormalities become established : The scientists found a double-protection mechanism .
Not only are aneuploid cells detected and eliminated , but healthy cells are stimulated to proliferate , compensating for the loss of unhealthy cells .
The research paper , which also fails to give credit to evolution for this wonderful example of foresight and design , appeared in Nature Communications on June 11.3 Even plants , lacking eyes and brains , know how to repair damage .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ more difficult : their repair teams can not migrate to the site of the injury .
Austrian scientists discovered a clever way that a plant can send repair enzymes to the rescue when a stem gets wounded .
The research is published in PNAS.4 It ’ s satisfying to say , again , that their paper did not give any credit to evolution .
This is one way design wins by default : the repeated failure by Darwinists to show up for the game constitutes abdication .
The concept of repair presupposes foresight.5 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recognize a problem ?
Even if a working plant or animal were granted a hypothetical existence by evolution , the easiest thing for natural selection to do when a problem occurs is to let the organism die .
Uncaring selection owes it no further existence .
As these examples show ( and there are many , many more ) , life comes equipped with repair teams that are even more complex than expected .
“ It is remarkable that embryos can do this , ” Caltech scientists said .
Yale scientists watched a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ death in the brain .
Lawrence Berkeley scientists did not expect to see a “ master sculptor ” in the nucleus already known to have an “ impressive arsenal ” of abilities able to surgically straighten DNA before their eyes .
These are the emotional responses of people astonished by design beyond their dreams .
If they assume these wonders emerged by evolution , their silence about how it did so speaks volumes .
• Tsutakawa et al.
, “ Human XPG nuclease structure , assembly , and activities with insights for neurodegeneration @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 23 June 2020 .
DOI : 10.1073/pnas.1921311117 .
• Damisah et al.
, “ Astrocytes and microglia play orchestrated roles and respect phagocytic territories during neuronal corpse removal in vivo , ” AAAS Science Advances , 26 June 2020 , DOI : 10.1126/sciadv.aba3239 .
• Singla et al.
, “ Autophagy-mediated apoptosis eliminates aneuploid cells in a mouse model of chromosome mosaicism , ” Nature Communications , 11 June 2020 .
DOI : doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16796-3 .
• Hoermayer et al.
, “ Wounding-induced changes in cellular @ @ @ @ @ @ @ restorative divisions in roots , ” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 15 June 2020 .
DOI : 10.1073/pnas.2003346117 .
• Eberlin , Marcos , Foresight : How the Chemistry of Life Reveals Planning and Purpose , Discovery Institute Press , 2019 .

Photo credit: JC Gellidon via Unsplash.
Cells and organisms come pre-equipped with repair mechanisms. It takes foresight to make complex tools and procedures that can restore the functions of other tools. A blind process like evolution can only see the immediate present; it would be unconcerned about what happens next. Repair implies something worth saving. The more delicate the product, the more elaborate the maintenance. Life is worth saving and it is delicate. Logically, therefore, the persistence of life presupposes elaborate repair systems are at work. The following research findings show just how complex some of these repair mechanisms are.
Bad News Before the Good News
Here is a kind of repair strategy that truly would require foresight. A skilled orthopedic surgeon can look at a broken bone and, through years of training, know that before setting it, he needs to make the break worse. In a compound fracture, for instance, bending the bone farther can allow splintered bones to be put back together. Additionally, assistants in the operating room can apply materials or medicines while the surgeon holds the fracture open. Something like that happens in the nucleus or our cells, scientists found at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. “Sometimes, when something is broken, the first step to fixing it is to break it even more.” A molecular machine named XPG could be dubbed an “orthogenic surgeon” (ortho- meaning straight).
“We saw that XPG makes a beeline for discontinuous DNA — places where the hydrogen bonds between bases on each strand of the helix have been disrupted — and then it very dramatically bends the strand at that exact location, breaking the interface that connects bases stacked on top of each other,” said Susan Tsutakawa, a structural biologist in the Biosciences Area at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and first author on the work, published this month in PNAS. “The bending activity adds to an already impressive arsenal, as XPG was first identified as a DNA chopping enzyme, responsible for cutting out nucleotide bases with chemical and UV radiation damage.” [Emphasis added.]
Natural selection would never do this. First of all, how would XPG recognize a problem that doesn’t affect it directly, and how would it know to make a beeline for something else’s problem? Then, if by some accident of chance it bent the DNA strand, how would it “know” how to perform the next surgical step? XPG would be out of a job, rushing toward discontinuous DNA like a blind driver on a demolition derby, breaking genes here and there, killing the organism by a thousand cuts. Instead, look what it does:
“An unexpected finding from our imaging data is that the flexible parts of the protein — which were previously impossible to examine – have the ability to recognize perturbations associated with many different types of DNA damage,” said co-author Priscilla Cooper, a biochemist senior scientist in the Biosciences Area. “XPG then uses its sculpting properties to bend the DNA in order to recruit and load into place the proteins that can fix that type of damage.”
The scientists call this a “protein with many jobs” that “is more like a master sculptor than a demolition crew.” Without XPG, a person can incur “devastating symptoms” of diseases. Some of these fatal syndromes caused by faulty XPG are described in the press release. Often “single amino acid substitutions can destabilize the entire protein,” they say. If that doesn’t clinch the case for design, consider also that the Lawrence Berkeley team found that XPG cooperates with other repair machines like BRCA1 and BRCA2. An entire operating-room team has the foresight to perform “orthogenic surgery” on DNA. The Darwin-free paper is published in PNAS.1
“Music” in the Skull
The brain is busier than a city all the time, even in sleep. Amidst all the clamor, one issue cannot be overlooked: how to dispose of dead cells. A recent article at Evolution News described how the “cellular morgue” takes care of the problem. In the brain, it is even more vital to quickly eliminate dead cells. A team at Yale School of Medicine heard “music” inside the skull: they found that astrocytes and microglia perform “orchestrated roles and respect phagocytic territories during neuronal corpse removal” in the brain. Each player knows its part.
Cell death is prevalent throughout life; however, the coordinated interactions and roles of phagocytes during corpse removal in the live brain are poorly understood. We developed photochemical and viral methodologies to induce death in single cells and combined this with intravital optical imaging. This approach allowed us to track multicellular phagocytic interactions with precise spatiotemporal resolution. Astrocytes and microglia engaged with dying neurons in an orchestrated and synchronized fashion. Each glial cell played specialized roles: Astrocyte processes rapidly polarized and engulfed numerous small dendritic apoptotic bodies, while microglia migrated and engulfed the soma and apical dendrites. The relative involvement and phagocytic specialization of each glial cell was plastic and controlled by the receptor tyrosine kinase Mertk… Thus, a precisely orchestrated response and cross-talk between glial cells during corpse removal may be critical for maintaining brain homeostasis.
Their research is published in Science Advances.2 This paper was also Darwin-free except for an opening pinch of incense in the first sentence, “Cell death is an evolutionarily conserved and ubiquitous process” — a useless offering that contributes nothing to the science except to show that evolution was not observed.
Ounce of Prevention
Every human life has value, even those with genetic defects (and which human being does not suffer from several?). What’s important to the argument for intelligent design from foresight is how carefully the body practices preventative medicine on the developing embryo. Scientists at Caltech point out,
The first few days of embryonic development are a critical point for determining the failure or success of a pregnancy. Because relatively few cells make up the embryo during this period, the health of each cell is vital to the health of the overall embryo. But often, these young cells have chromosomal aneuploidies — meaning, there are too many or too few chromosome copies in the cell. Aneuploid cells lead to the failure of the pregnancy, or cause developmental defects such as Down syndrome later in gestation.
Fortunately, these young embryos perform their own “quality control” before most genetic abnormalities become established:
Researchers have found that the prevalence of aneuploidy is drastically lower as the embryo grows and develops. Using mouse embryos, scientists from the laboratory of Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, Caltech’s Bren Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering, now show that this is because embryos are able to rid themselves of abnormal cells just before and soon after implantation into the uterus, thereby keeping the whole embryo healthy…. “It is remarkable that embryos can do this,” says Zernicka-Goetz. “It reflects their plasticity that gives them the power to self-repair.”
The scientists found a double-protection mechanism. Not only are aneuploid cells detected and eliminated, but healthy cells are stimulated to proliferate, compensating for the loss of unhealthy cells. The research paper, which also fails to give credit to evolution for this wonderful example of foresight and design, appeared in Nature Communications on June 11.3
Plants Have Foresight, Too
Even plants, lacking eyes and brains, know how to repair damage. Plants have a handicap that makes repair more difficult: their repair teams cannot migrate to the site of the injury. Austrian scientists discovered a clever way that a plant can send repair enzymes to the rescue when a stem gets wounded.
Plants are sessile organisms that cannot evade wounding or pathogen attack, and their cells are encapsulated within cell walls, making it impossible to use cell migration for wound healing like animals. Thus, regeneration in plants largely relies on the coordination of targeted cell expansion and oriented cell division. Here we show in the root that the major growth hormone auxin is specifically activated in wound-adjacent cells, regulating cell expansion, cell division rates, and regeneration-involved transcription factor ERF115. These wound responses depend on cell collapse of the eliminated cells presumably perceived by the cell damage-induced changes in cellular pressure. This largely broadens our understanding of how wound responses are coordinated on a cellular level to mediate wound healing and prevent overproliferation.
The research is published in PNAS.4 It’s satisfying to say, again, that their paper did not give any credit to evolution. This is one way design wins by default: the repeated failure by Darwinists to show up for the game constitutes abdication.
Repair Requires Foresight
The concept of repair presupposes foresight.5 How would a blind, unguided process recognize a problem? Even if a working plant or animal were granted a hypothetical existence by evolution, the easiest thing for natural selection to do when a problem occurs is to let the organism die. Uncaring selection owes it no further existence. As these examples show (and there are many, many more), life comes equipped with repair teams that are even more complex than expected. “It is remarkable that embryos can do this,” Caltech scientists said. Yale scientists watched a “precisely orchestrated response” to cell death in the brain. Lawrence Berkeley scientists did not expect to see a “master sculptor” in the nucleus already known to have an “impressive arsenal” of abilities able to surgically straighten DNA before their eyes. These are the emotional responses of people astonished by design beyond their dreams. If they assume these wonders emerged by evolution, their silence about how it did so speaks volumes.
References


evolutionnewsandviews--2020-07-21--Fire and Metals — Primal Discoveries, by Design

Editor ’ s note : We are pleased to present a series adapted from biologist Michael Denton ’ s book , Fire-Maker : How Humans Were Designed to Harness Fire and Transform Our Planet , from Discovery Institute Press .
Find the whole series here .
Dr. Denton ’ s forthcoming book , The Miracle of the Cell , will be published in September .
The primal discovery of fire opened a long path towards modern technology .
The ability to tame fire led to the invention of the art of cooking and to the discovery that fire hardens lumps @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which can be molded into containers for storing food .
This initiated the development of mankind ’ s first industry — ceramics , which was well established in many parts of the world before 10000 BC.1 The mastery of fire also led to the discovery and manufacture of charcoal , produced by burning or “ cooking wood ” in an oxygen depleted environment ( a technique used by cave artists as early as 30000 BC2 ) , and to the discovery that burning charcoal generates far greater heat that an ordinary wood @ @ @ @ @ @ @ use of charcoal to generate high temperatures inside kilns for the manufacture of baked and glazed pottery , using bellows to give a forced draft to raise the temperature inside the kiln.4 Perhaps it was the chance heating of a metal ore in a particularly hot campfire and the subsequent discovery of globules of metal the next morning upon “ raking through the ashes ” 5 which first led to the discovery of metallurgy .
Or perhaps , as other authors have argued , the discovery that metals could be extracted from their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , where the charcoal-fueled fire would have generated temperatures hot enough to smelt metallic ores.6 As Arthur Wilson comments in his Living Rock , “ Adapting… [ the process of glazing pottery in a kiln using charcoal as a fuel ] , copper ores could thus have been reduced to obtain metal.
” 7 Although no one knows exactly what sequence of events led to the beginnings of metallurgy,8 there is little doubt that it was another momentous discovery , second only to the discovery and mastery of fire itself .
As Arthur @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the secret of metallurgy was unraveled—and we shall never know precisely—it was a momentous step along the road to civilization… man , though still stumbling , entered the Age of Metals and opened up undreamed of possibilities for his future.
” 9 Copper was one of the first of the metals to be widely used and there is evidence that mankind mastered the smelting of copper as early as 7,000 years ago.10 The subsequent extraction of copper from copper-bearing ores and its mixture with tin to make bronze was independently discovered by cultures @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and ushered in the Bronze Age in the Ancient Near East about 3500 BC.12 • “ Pottery , ” Wikipedia , May 16 , 2016 , accessed on May 17 , 2016 , https : //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pottery ; See Xiaohong Wu , Chi Zhang , Paul Goldberg , David Cohen , Yan Pan , Trina Arpin , Ofer Bar-Yosef , “ Early Pottery at 20,000 Years Ago in Xianrendong Cave , China , ” Science 336 , no .
6089 ( 2012 ) : 1696–1700 .
doi:10.1126/science.1218643 .
PMID 22745428 ; PIMD23575637 .
• @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Interdisciplinary Science Reviews 24 , no .
4 ( April 1999 ) : 301–306 .
doi:10.1179/030801899678966 ; version of article on web : http : //www.personal.rdg.ac.uk/~scsharip/Charcoal.htm .
• Ibid .
; Lee Horne , “ Fuel For The Metal Worker , ” Expedition Magazine 25 , no .
1 ( October 1982 ) , Penn Museum , accessed May 17 , 2016 , http : //www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/ ?
p=5281 .
Horne comments : “ As an accidental by-product of combustion , wood charcoal has certainly been known for as long as fire itself @ @ @ @ @ @ @ such as smokelessness and high burning temperature , were appreciated early on and even taken advantage of from time to time .
At some unknown point in the past , however , charcoal began to be produced for its own sake , and not simply as a by-product in the course of building fires for other purposes .
Eventually it became a commercial product , and charcoal production became another way to earn a living .
The wood from which charcoal is made became an important industrial resource , just as essential to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ itself.
” • Arthur Wilson , The Living Rock : The Story of Metals since Earliest Times and Their Impact on Developing Civilization ( Cambridge , England : Woodhead Pub.
, 1994 ) , 10-11 .
• Ibid ; “ Smelting , ” Wikipedia , May 6 , 2016 , accessed May 17 , 2016 , https : //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smelting : “ How the discovery [ of smelting copper ] came about is a matter of much debate .
Campfires are about 200° C short of the temperature needed… so it has been conjectured @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have been achieved in pottery kilns.
” • “ Chalcolithic , ” Wikipedia , May 15 , 2016 , accessed May 17 , 2016 , https : //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalcolithic : “ The archaeological site of Belovode on the Rudnik mountain in Serbia contains the world ’ s oldest securely dated evidence of copper smelting at high temperature , from 5,000 BCE.
” • “ Bronze Age , ” Wikipedia , May 16 , 2016 , accessed May 17 , 2016 , https : //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Age : As the article comments : “ The Moche civilization @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bronze smelting .
[ 71 ] Bronze technology was developed further by the Incas and used widely both for utilitarian objects and sculpture .
[ 72 ] A later appearance of limited bronze smelting in West Mexico ( see Metallurgy in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica ) suggests either contact of that region with Andean cultures or separate discovery of the technology .
The Calchaquí people of Northwest Argentina [ also ] had Bronze technology .
”

Photo: Smelting, by Allen Drebert / Public domain.
Editor’s note: We are pleased to present a series adapted from biologist Michael Denton’s book, Fire-Maker: How Humans Were Designed to Harness Fire and Transform Our Planet, from Discovery Institute Press. Find the whole series here. Dr. Denton’s forthcoming book, The Miracle of the Cell, will be published in September.
The primal discovery of fire opened a long path towards modern technology. The ability to tame fire led to the invention of the art of cooking and to the discovery that fire hardens lumps of clay into hard stone or pottery, which can be molded into containers for storing food. This initiated the development of mankind’s first industry — ceramics, which was well established in many parts of the world before 10000 BC.1
The mastery of fire also led to the discovery and manufacture of charcoal, produced by burning or “cooking wood” in an oxygen depleted environment (a technique used by cave artists as early as 30000 BC2), and to the discovery that burning charcoal generates far greater heat that an ordinary wood fire.3 This in turn led to the use of charcoal to generate high temperatures inside kilns for the manufacture of baked and glazed pottery, using bellows to give a forced draft to raise the temperature inside the kiln.4
A Particularly Hot Campfire
Perhaps it was the chance heating of a metal ore in a particularly hot campfire and the subsequent discovery of globules of metal the next morning upon “raking through the ashes”5 which first led to the discovery of metallurgy. Or perhaps, as other authors have argued, the discovery that metals could be extracted from their ores was discovered in a pottery kiln, where the charcoal-fueled fire would have generated temperatures hot enough to smelt metallic ores.6 As Arthur Wilson comments in his Living Rock, “Adapting… [the process of glazing pottery in a kiln using charcoal as a fuel], copper ores could thus have been reduced to obtain metal.”7
Although no one knows exactly what sequence of events led to the beginnings of metallurgy,8 there is little doubt that it was another momentous discovery, second only to the discovery and mastery of fire itself. As Arthur Wilson comments: “In whatever manner the secret of metallurgy was unraveled—and we shall never know precisely—it was a momentous step along the road to civilization… man, though still stumbling, entered the Age of Metals and opened up undreamed of possibilities for his future.”9
Copper was one of the first of the metals to be widely used and there is evidence that mankind mastered the smelting of copper as early as 7,000 years ago.10 The subsequent extraction of copper from copper-bearing ores and its mixture with tin to make bronze was independently discovered by cultures in both the old and new worlds11 and ushered in the Bronze Age in the Ancient Near East about 3500 BC.12
Tomorrow, “For Mankind, Copper to Iron Was a Landmark Advance.”
Notes


evolutionnewsandviews--2020-07-22--Biophysicists Find Water Wires Are Biological Information Channels

Water conducts electricity ; it can also conduct energy and information .
Biophysicists are finding that “ water wires ” at the nanoscale fine-tune enzymatic actions — indeed , can be indispensable for function .
In a post here back in April , Evolution News shared a remarkable fact about dynein , one of the molecular machines that “ walks ” on microtubules .
The scientist in that story theorized that water molecules bind to the stalk and help transmit kinetic energy via “ water waves ” from the reaction center , where ATP is spent , to the “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The water molecules are so positioned as to create a virtual “ tsunami ” of energy from one end of the machine to the other , which causes the feet to move .
Obviously , this requires very precise cooperation between the water molecules and the amino acids in the stalk .
Now , other instances are coming to light of biological systems incorporating water molecules into their functional specificity .
Biophysicists have long suspected that water molecules facilitate the passage of substrates through membrane channels .
The purpose of membrane channels is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ membrane but prohibit others .
This is called active transport , because normally molecules would move by diffusion ( passive transport ) .
Cells need to both attract the right molecules to go through the channel and authenticate them through the “ selectivity filter.
” Water can assist this process via electricity .
Since H O is bipolar , single water molecules in a chain , held together by hydrogen bonds , become a sort of “ wire ” through which ions can pass .
Additionally , the fact that some amino acids @ @ @ @ @ @ @ water molecules to the exact positions inside the channel where they can assist the selectivity filter .
In 2009 , scientists in India constructed an artificial “ peptide nanotube ” just wide enough to hold a chain of water molecules .
Chemistry World explains how achieving this in practice was harder than in theory : Water behaves differently at the nanoscale , forming into single-file arrangements known as ‘ water wires ’ .
These are important in biology as they ferry protons through cell membranes , which is a crucial step in how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ behind this proton transfer is the classic Grotthuss chain , where hydrogen bonding lets protons hop between water molecules very rapidly .
But predicting how this mechanism affects a single line of molecules has been challenging .
Now , a team led by Padmanabhan Balaram at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore has taken a first-hand look at how the molecules are configured , providing a useful template for future studies .
[ Emphasis added . ]
The experiment in this early attempt did not attract water molecules to the sides of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ doing so .
In 2018 , scientists from Cornell and Rensselaer made further progress in constructing artificial water wires .
The news from Rensselaer , “ Proof of Water Wires Motivated by a Biological Water Channel , ” says that biological water channels called aquaporins provided the inspiration for their biomimetic experiments .
The experimenters built an artificial channel with stacks of imidazole , a ring-shaped nitrogen-based organic compound , and demonstrated for the first time that water molecules can be induced to stick to the sides of the channel in order to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that until then , water wires had been predicted theoretically but never seen .
A key finding of this work was that the “ net dipolar orientation of water molecules in confined channels induced specific polarization of the channel , ” which drives the substrate through .
The ability to mimic this action would be the “ gold standard ” for desalination technology , they say .
But is this how water wires work in biological systems ?
One challenge of observing biological water wires is peering inside the narrow confines of a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ down the action .
Hydrogen bond formation is predicted to change billions of times a second .
This year , an international team used the ultra-high-intensity magnet at the National High Magnetic Field lab in Tallahassee , Florida , to achieve a breakthrough .
Considering that the field energy of MRI machines in hospitals runs about 1 to 3 teslas ( T ) , the power of the magnet at Tallahassee , 35.2 T , is truly astonishing .
That is orders of magnitude stronger than the magnetic field of the earth or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , “ Functional stability of water wire–carbonyl interactions in an ion channel , ” tells how they were able to pull off this feat in a well-characterized membrane channel named gramicidin A. Gramicidin A ( gA ) , discovered in 1939 , is a linear peptide antibiotic produced by Bacillus brevis .
Unlike most peptides , gA consists of alternating left- and right-handed amino acid residues .
This gives it a spiral helical shape that penetrates the bacterium ’ s membrane , forming a pore that looks like a spiral staircase .
This @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( positively charged ions ) to neutralize the pH of the interior and exterior .
“ The antimicrobial activity , ” the authors explain , “ derives from its ability to form a transmembrane channel that is selective for monovalent cations.
” It is a simple “ channel ” to use for studying the activity of a water wire .
One surprising finding was that the hydrogen bonds in the wire are much more stable than predicted .
Instead of changing in nanoseconds in the strong magnetic field , they lingered for milliseconds @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The dipole formed by the 24-fold difference in binding affinity forces the cation down the channel .
The water molecules are placed at the precise positions to provide optimum stability .
Is there a reason why the hydrogen bonds need to be stable ?
Yes ; the timing of passage of cations requires that the binding sites not flip too quickly .
You can skip this passage after the first sentence unless you like the details : Water wires are critical biological assemblies supported by membrane proteins for the purposes of transporting charge @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unique high-resolution characterization of the gA water wire provides insights into the dynamics , structure , and functional mechanism of this ion channel .
In liquid crystalline lipid bilayers , the gA water wire and its associated electric dipole are stable on the millisecond timescale , both with and without cations present .
Upon single cation occupancy , the influence of the electric dipole extends even further into the terminal region of the second subunit than in the absence of cations .
The K+ interactions upon double occupancy do not result in symmetrization @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are significant impacts on water carbonyl interactions in the pore and hence on the resultant electric dipole that stabilizes the high affinity cation binding state .
Furthermore , under double occupancy , the cations in the high- and low-affinity sites do not exchange sites at their respective ends of the channel on the millisecond timescale .
Such exchange would flip the water wire and its associated electric dipole , resulting in averaging of the 17O spectral frequencies of the two subunits into a single value .
Consequently , these cation binding sites are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ timescale .
Indeed , the water-wire orientation and its associated electric dipole dictates the high-affinity and low-affinity sites of the dimer .
In short , the spacing of all the amino acids and water molecules is optimized for function .
The first ion is sucked in , forming its stable hydrogen bonds with the water , so that the second ion entering the channel doesn ’ t flip the dipole over and break the flow .
That requires precision foresight both positionally and temporally .
And this is one of the simplest examples @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fair to expect even more optimization will be found in future studies of water wires in more complex membrane channels .
Do the authors think this is intelligently designed ?
They almost say so : Their awe at this system might explain their failure to attribute it to evolution .

Image: Water wire, by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, via Poul Petersen, Cornell University/EurekAlert!
Water conducts electricity; it can also conduct energy and information. Biophysicists are finding that “water wires” at the nanoscale fine-tune enzymatic actions — indeed, can be indispensable for function.
In a post here back in April, Evolution News shared a remarkable fact about dynein, one of the molecular machines that “walks” on microtubules. The scientist in that story theorized that water molecules bind to the stalk and help transmit kinetic energy via “water waves” from the reaction center, where ATP is spent, to the “feet” where walking takes place. The water molecules are so positioned as to create a virtual “tsunami” of energy from one end of the machine to the other, which causes the feet to move. Obviously, this requires very precise cooperation between the water molecules and the amino acids in the stalk. Now, other instances are coming to light of biological systems incorporating water molecules into their functional specificity.
How Water Wires Work
Biophysicists have long suspected that water molecules facilitate the passage of substrates through membrane channels. The purpose of membrane channels is to permit certain molecules through the cell membrane but prohibit others. This is called active transport, because normally molecules would move by diffusion (passive transport). Cells need to both attract the right molecules to go through the channel and authenticate them through the “selectivity filter.” Water can assist this process via electricity. Since H 2 O is bipolar, single water molecules in a chain, held together by hydrogen bonds, become a sort of “wire” through which ions can pass. Additionally, the fact that some amino acids are hydrophilic allows biological channels to attract water molecules to the exact positions inside the channel where they can assist the selectivity filter.
Building Water Wires by Design
In 2009, scientists in India constructed an artificial “peptide nanotube” just wide enough to hold a chain of water molecules. Chemistry World explains how achieving this in practice was harder than in theory:
Water behaves differently at the nanoscale, forming into single-file arrangements known as ‘water wires’. These are important in biology as they ferry protons through cell membranes, which is a crucial step in how most organisms produce energy. The mechanism behind this proton transfer is the classic Grotthuss chain, where hydrogen bonding lets protons hop between water molecules very rapidly. But predicting how this mechanism affects a single line of molecules has been challenging. Now, a team led by Padmanabhan Balaram at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore has taken a first-hand look at how the molecules are configured, providing a useful template for future studies. [Emphasis added.]
The experiment in this early attempt did not attract water molecules to the sides of the channel but demonstrated the feasibility of doing so. In 2018, scientists from Cornell and Rensselaer made further progress in constructing artificial water wires. The news from Rensselaer, “Proof of Water Wires Motivated by a Biological Water Channel,” says that biological water channels called aquaporins provided the inspiration for their biomimetic experiments.
Aquaporins are proteins that serve as water channels to regulate the flow of water across biological cell membranes. They also remove excess salt and impurities in the body, and it is this aspect that has led to much interest in recent years in how to mimic the biochemical processes of aquaporins potentially for water desalination systems.
The experimenters built an artificial channel with stacks of imidazole, a ring-shaped nitrogen-based organic compound, and demonstrated for the first time that water molecules can be induced to stick to the sides of the channel in order to form a water wire. Cornell says that until then, water wires had been predicted theoretically but never seen.
“I would call this the first real observation of a water wire,” [Poul] Petersen said. “We’re not just seeing the oxygen [atoms], we see the protons, as well. It’s the first observation of the hydrogen bonding in a water wire.”
A key finding of this work was that the “net dipolar orientation of water molecules in confined channels induced specific polarization of the channel,” which drives the substrate through. The ability to mimic this action would be the “gold standard” for desalination technology, they say. But is this how water wires work in biological systems?
Super-Powerful Magnet Sees a Biological Water Wire for First Time
One challenge of observing biological water wires is peering inside the narrow confines of a membrane channel. Another challenge is slowing down the action. Hydrogen bond formation is predicted to change billions of times a second. This year, an international team used the ultra-high-intensity magnet at the National High Magnetic Field lab in Tallahassee, Florida, to achieve a breakthrough. Considering that the field energy of MRI machines in hospitals runs about 1 to 3 teslas (T), the power of the magnet at Tallahassee, 35.2 T, is truly astonishing. That is orders of magnitude stronger than the magnetic field of the earth or the sun.
Their paper in PNAS, “Functional stability of water wire–carbonyl interactions in an ion channel,” tells how they were able to pull off this feat in a well-characterized membrane channel named gramicidin A.
Water wires are critical for the functioning of many membrane proteins, as in channels that conduct water, protons, and other ions. Here, in liquid crystalline lipid bilayers under symmetric environmental conditions, the selective hydrogen bonding interactions between eight waters comprising a water wire and a subset of 26 carbonyl oxygens lining the antiparallel dimeric gramicidin A channel are characterized by 17O NMR spectroscopy at 35.2 T … and computational studies.
Gramicidin A (gA), discovered in 1939, is a linear peptide antibiotic produced by Bacillus brevis. Unlike most peptides, gA consists of alternating left- and right-handed amino acid residues. This gives it a spiral helical shape that penetrates the bacterium’s membrane, forming a pore that looks like a spiral staircase. This allows for the free passage of cations (positively charged ions) to neutralize the pH of the interior and exterior. “The antimicrobial activity,” the authors explain, “derives from its ability to form a transmembrane channel that is selective for monovalent cations.” It is a simple “channel” to use for studying the activity of a water wire.
The single file aqueous pore, terminated by the two L10 carbonyls, is only wide enough to host a single file of hydrogen-bonded water molecules: i.e., a water wire, as well as various monovalent cations ranging from Li+ to Cs+. The peptide planes of gA are nearly parallel to the pore axis, with odd-numbered carbonyls in both subunits oriented toward the bilayer center and even-numbered carbonyls toward the bilayer surfaces. Upon entering the water wire region of the channel, a cation interacts with only two waters and possibly pairs of carbonyl oxygens following a spiral path through the pore.
One surprising finding was that the hydrogen bonds in the wire are much more stable than predicted. Instead of changing in nanoseconds in the strong magnetic field, they lingered for milliseconds — six orders of magnitude longer.
The results reveal that selective pore-lining carbonyl oxygens form remarkably stable hydrogen bonds with waters in the wire, such that the water wire does not change its orientation on the millisecond NMR timescale. The stable orientation of the water-wire dipole also provides a simple explanation for the low affinity of the second cation binding site in this dimeric channel, despite a separation of ∼24 Å from the first binding site at the opposite end of the pore.
The dipole formed by the 24-fold difference in binding affinity forces the cation down the channel. The water molecules are placed at the precise positions to provide optimum stability.
The water wire itself has a stability gradient from the negative end of the electric dipole to the positive end, based on optimal hydrogen bonding of the waters at the negative end of the electric dipole. The water interactions at this end of the dipole over the first three waters of the water wire are particularly stable.
Is there a reason why the hydrogen bonds need to be stable? Yes; the timing of passage of cations requires that the binding sites not flip too quickly. You can skip this passage after the first sentence unless you like the details:
Water wires are critical biological assemblies supported by membrane proteins for the purposes of transporting charge and ions across membranes. The present unique high-resolution characterization of the gA water wire provides insights into the dynamics, structure, and functional mechanism of this ion channel. In liquid crystalline lipid bilayers, the gA water wire and its associated electric dipole are stable on the millisecond timescale, both with and without cations present. Upon single cation occupancy, the influence of the electric dipole extends even further into the terminal region of the second subunit than in the absence of cations. The K+ interactions upon double occupancy do not result in symmetrization of the channel; however, there are significant impacts on water carbonyl interactions in the pore and hence on the resultant electric dipole that stabilizes the high affinity cation binding state. Furthermore, under double occupancy, the cations in the high- and low-affinity sites do not exchange sites at their respective ends of the channel on the millisecond timescale. Such exchange would flip the water wire and its associated electric dipole, resulting in averaging of the 17O spectral frequencies of the two subunits into a single value. Consequently, these cation binding sites are also stable at least on the millisecond timescale. Indeed, the water-wire orientation and its associated electric dipole dictates the high-affinity and low-affinity sites of the dimer.
In short, the spacing of all the amino acids and water molecules is optimized for function. The first ion is sucked in, forming its stable hydrogen bonds with the water, so that the second ion entering the channel doesn’t flip the dipole over and break the flow. That requires precision foresight both positionally and temporally. And this is one of the simplest examples found in a bacterium! It is fair to expect even more optimization will be found in future studies of water wires in more complex membrane channels. Do the authors think this is intelligently designed? They almost say so:
The profound influence of the water wire in this model system and the stable water–carbonyl interactions illustrate the significance and functionality for such wires in many channels and materials. In particular, the stability of the water wire and its electric dipole suggests that its influence in many other systems could be more significant than generally recognized. To achieve such an understanding, unique 17O spectroscopy as reported here at a field strength of 35.2 T demonstrates the exquisite sensitivity to the chemical environs surrounding oxygen sites where so much of biological chemistry takes place.
Their awe at this system might explain their failure to attribute it to evolution.


evolutionnewsandviews--2020-07-22--The Molecular Biology of Coronaviruses — Livestream Presentation Thursday

Last week , many of you tuned in for a YouTube livestream featuring Dr. Mike Behe on the subject of the biochemical basis of COVID-19 ( you can still view the recording here ) .
The event was organized and hosted by the British Centre for Intelligent Design .
Tomorrow , Thursday , at 3 pm Eastern time ( 8 pm British time ) , I am going to be delivering the second presentation in the three part series .
My presentation will last around 40 minutes and will be followed by a live Q & A .
Click this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ give a brief introduction to virology , including a discussion of the classification of viruses ( e.g.
, naked versus enveloped ; types of viral genomes ) , viral structure , and the human virome ( including the domestication of endogenous retroviruses in our genomes , and how bacteriophages , which are viruses infecting bacteria , may actually be our first line of defense against pathogens ) .
You will also learn about the molecular machinery that allows viruses to gain entry into cells .
I will discuss the defense mechanisms that bacteria @ @ @ @ @ @ @ how those may be countered by viruses .
I will review the theories that have been offered regarding the evolutionary origins of viruses .
Finally , I will discuss the distinctive aspects of coronaviruses specifically , and review the outbreaks that have been caused by this family of viruses , including the SARS outbreak in 2002-2004 , the MERS outbreak in 2012 , and the current COVID-19 pandemic .

Photo credit: Mika Baumeister via Unsplash.
Last week, many of you tuned in for a YouTube livestream featuring Dr. Mike Behe on the subject of the biochemical basis of COVID-19 (you can still view the recording here). The event was organized and hosted by the British Centre for Intelligent Design.
Tomorrow, Thursday, at 3 pm Eastern time (8 pm British time), I am going to be delivering the second presentation in the three part series. My presentation will last around 40 minutes and will be followed by a live Q&A. Click this link to join me!
I will give a brief introduction to virology, including a discussion of the classification of viruses (e.g., naked versus enveloped; types of viral genomes), viral structure, and the human virome (including the domestication of endogenous retroviruses in our genomes, and how bacteriophages, which are viruses infecting bacteria, may actually be our first line of defense against pathogens).
You will also learn about the molecular machinery that allows viruses to gain entry into cells. I will discuss the defense mechanisms that bacteria and archaea have acquired against viruses and how those may be countered by viruses. I will review the theories that have been offered regarding the evolutionary origins of viruses. Finally, I will discuss the distinctive aspects of coronaviruses specifically, and review the outbreaks that have been caused by this family of viruses, including the SARS outbreak in 2002-2004, the MERS outbreak in 2012, and the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Photo credit: Mika Baumeister via Unsplash.