Investigator seeks to uncover roots of DNA’s ‘sweet’ secret

Vanderbilt University Medical Center ^ | 29 September 2006 | Melissa Marino

[PatrickHenry]

Everybody be nice.

[thoughtomator]

Yet the graceful, sinuous profile of the DNA double helix is the result of random chemical reactions in a simmering, primordial stew.

I'd call that sentence "religious belief".

[PatrickHenry]

Evolution Ping The List-O-Links

A conservative, pro-evolution science list, now with over 390 names. See the list's explanation, then FReepmail to be added or dropped. To assist beginners: But it's "just a theory", Evo-Troll's Toolkit, and How to argue against a scientific theory.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[<1/1,000,000th%]

In a recent issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Egli and colleagues report the X-ray crystal structure of homo-DNA, an artificial analog of DNA in which the usual five-carbon sugar has been replaced with a six-carbon sugar.

Makes you wonder if they're re-thinking the name.

[PatrickHenry]

Makes you wonder if they're re-thinking the name.

It's only a problem if you think you're made of it.

[Rio]

No no no. DNA developed randomly from pond scum. That's what they told me in bio class.

[Heartlander]

“These molecules are the result of evolution,” said Egli, professor of Biochemistry. “Somehow they have been shaped and optimized for a particular purpose.”

Hmmm…

[mc6809e]

"Yet the graceful, sinuous profile of the DNA double helix is the result of random chemical reactions in a simmering, primordial stew."

I'd call that sentence "religious belief".

Sure, let's do that.

But I have to ask: how many men has your religion put on the moon? Why didn't your religion wipe out smallpox? How many microprocessors did your religion develop?

If you want to call the statements of science religious, go ahead. There isn't another religion that can compete with the religion of science. No other religion has brought more progress to humanity.

[patriot_wes]

"But I have to ask: how many men has your religion put on the moon? Why didn't your religion wipe out smallpox? How many microprocessors did your religion develop?"

Is he talking about Islam? That would be ZERO.

[ArGee]

I'm worn out from the other thread and not going to go into it again, but for my money this article just shot the likelihood of an undirected process yielding DNA down a whole new magnitude.

There are so many steps where the "and then a miracle occurs" box has to be inserted...

Shalom.

[ArGee]

If you want to call the statements of science religious, go ahead. There isn't another religion that can compete with the religion of science. No other religion has brought more progress to humanity.

Except, perhaps, the religion that brought us science.

Shalom.

[doc30]

Very, very cool find!

[Heartlander]

Keeping things in context, this one statement was called a ‘religious belief’ - "Yet the graceful, sinuous profile of the DNA double helix is the result of random chemical reactions in a simmering, primordial stew."

Does this one ‘religious belief’ do all that you say?

[AdmSmith]

A nice picture of homo-DNA (and other types)



taken from "Prebiotic Chemistry and the Origin of the RNA World"
http://www.crbmb.com/cgi/content/full/39/2/99

[<1/1,000,000th%]

LOL!

[PatrickHenry]

I wasn't aware that a different model of DNA had been synthesized. It's fascinating to see how ours has certain advantages -- as it would need to be the one that prevailed. It's also fascinating to see that the synthetic DNA, although a designer might have thought it superior, actually isn't. But sorting through a myriad of possibilities is what genetic algorithms do.

[tx_eggman]

Except, perhaps, the religion that brought us science.

Shalom.

mc, that's gonna leave a mark

[Virginia-American]

No religion has ever said where to dig to find a perticular transitional fossil. The ToE has. It was right.

[PatrickHenry]

A nice picture of homo-DNA (and other types)

This is the illustration that appeared in the article I posted: