Chemist Challenges Evolution: Life Works Only as a Fully Integrated System
No chemical mechanism for evolution
“I don’t understand the chemistry behind the evolutionary process. […] Tell me about the molecular interactions that are going to have to occur, the changes at the molecular level and how that happens.”
Origin of life is completely unknown
“We have no idea how life was created. We have no idea.”
All of life requires four molecular systems—and none arise prebiotically
“You have to have four classes of compounds. You have the lipids, which surround every one of our cell structures. You have the polysaccharides. You have the nucleotides which are RNA and DNA. And then you have the polypeptides which are proteins. Nobody has ever made those polymers, any classes, any of those, by a prebiotic route.”
Chirality makes prebiotic chemistry biologically useless
“When they will use a prebiotic method to make these molecules, they only get the mixture. Biology can only run on one. It can’t run on the mixture of them.”
Even with all parts and DNA, a cell cannot assemble
“I’ll give you everything. I’ll give you all the components of a cell and all the ions and I’ll give you the DNA structure. Just assemble a cell. Can any of you do it? Nobody can.”
The simplest possible cell is still far beyond reach
“Biophysicists have already told us that you can calculate what is the simplest cell that you could have that could still be operable. That has like fifteen basic components. How many of those fifteen have ever been made in a prebiotic sense? Zero. None.”
Body-plan change has never been observed
“You can see small permutations, but what you never see, never see are what is called body plan changes. This encompasses many things, but you see these genetic networks would have to change. So a body plan change would be an invertebrae, something that does not have a spine going to a vertebrae, something that has a spine. something like like a worm going into something that has a spine. You never ever see that.”
Cambrian explosion contradicts gradual evolution
“What we see is the Cambridge explosion. All of a sudden, boom, it happened [most major animal groups appear suddenly]. And then it stays. There is no explanation for that. […] Because if evolution is real, then there would of course be a gradual ramp up to that from a single cell. And there is not.”
God as the explanation for life’s complexity
“I look at life, living entities. I mean, how do you pull this thing off? We don’t know how to build like this. There’s a reason why we build robots out of plastic and wires and silicon rather than molecules. We haven’t the foggiest idea. It’s so hard to think about how you’re going to build something out of molecules. And I’m like: 'God, how do you do this?' This is amazing. And it gives me much more appreciation for God when I see this as a scientist.”
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