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What Defines an Organism? Biologists Say 'Purpose.'
ICR News ^ | December 10, 2009 | Brian Thomas, M.S.

Posted on 12/10/2009 8:12:50 AM PST by GodGunsGuts

David Queller and Joan Strassmann, evolutionary biologists at Rice University, recently proposed a new way to describe what makes an organism a unified whole. They defined an organism as an entity made up of parts that cooperate well for an overall purpose, and do so with minimal conflict. But how do parts like these get together, and where does purposeful behavior come from?...

(Excerpt) Read more at icr.org ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: belongsinreligion; bible; biology; catholic; christian; christianright; creation; crevolist; design; evangelical; evolution; genesis; god; godsgravesglyphs; intelligentdesign; judaism; notasciencetopic; organism; propellerbeanie; protestant; purpose; science; spammer
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To: count-your-change

You having a bunny/pancake moment or something?


161 posted on 12/10/2009 1:45:45 PM PST by xcamel (The urge to save humanity is always a false front for the urge to rule it. - H. L. Mencken)
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To: xcamel
If you subscribe to the panspermia theory.

But then you still have to place the origin of life somewhere else.
Might as well do the dirty work here.
162 posted on 12/10/2009 1:45:45 PM PST by IronKros (Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition. ~Adam Smith, The Wealth)
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To: xcamel; MamaTexan; mnehring

That’s not acceptable unless you can tell us the source of the meteorites.


163 posted on 12/10/2009 1:46:06 PM PST by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: Wacka

Here are the words to the theme (sung by the Bare Naked Ladies). Only the first verse is shown on TV:

Our whole universe was in a hot dense state,
Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started. Wait...
The Earth began to cool,
The autotrophs began to drool,
Neanderthals developed tools,
We built a wall (we built the pyramids),
Math, science, history, unraveling the mysteries,
That all started with the big bang!

“Since the dawn of man” is really not that long,
As every galaxy was formed in less time than it takes to sing this song.
A fraction of a second and the elements were made.
The bipeds stood up straight,
The dinosaurs all met their fate,
They tried to leap but they were late
And they all died (they froze their asses off)
The oceans and pangea
See ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya
Set in motion by the same big bang!

It all started with the big BANG!

It’s expanding ever outward but one day
It will cause the stars to go the other way,
Collapsing ever inward, we won’t be here, it wont be hurt
Our best and brightest figure that it’ll make an even bigger bang!

Australopithecus would really have been sick of us
Debating out while here they’re catching deer (we’re catching viruses)
Religion or astronomy, Encarta, Deuteronomy
It all started with the big bang!

Music and mythology, Einstein and astrology
It all started with the big bang!
It all started with the big BANG!


164 posted on 12/10/2009 1:46:09 PM PST by Wacka
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To: MamaTexan

Still digging for the power, however, posting some of the original papers while I look so I don’t lose the link.

http://www.issol.org/miller/miller1953.pdf


165 posted on 12/10/2009 1:46:50 PM PST by mnehring
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To: mnehring
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1200/is_n4_v146/ai_15657614/
166 posted on 12/10/2009 1:47:09 PM PST by IronKros (Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition. ~Adam Smith, The Wealth)
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To: mnehring
And don't forget to mention that 6CO2 + 6H2O + sunlight → C6H12O6 + 6O2. Something to eat and something to breathe!
167 posted on 12/10/2009 1:47:19 PM PST by stormer
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To: mnehring; MamaTexan

That’s right, MamaTexan.

You heard it.

Lightning.

And you know what lightning does to things, don’t you?


168 posted on 12/10/2009 1:47:43 PM PST by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: xcamel

No need for the seeding theory, these are all pretty common chemicals.


169 posted on 12/10/2009 1:48:07 PM PST by mnehring
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To: IronKros

Not even that complex.. just the right chemicals being in the right place at the right time under the right conditions.


170 posted on 12/10/2009 1:49:16 PM PST by xcamel (The urge to save humanity is always a false front for the urge to rule it. - H. L. Mencken)
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To: metmom
Why? The chemicals involved are virtually universal - created in the first moments of the big-bang. Remember, matter is neither created or destroyed.
171 posted on 12/10/2009 1:51:07 PM PST by stormer
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To: metmom

See post 159.


172 posted on 12/10/2009 1:51:07 PM PST by xcamel (The urge to save humanity is always a false front for the urge to rule it. - H. L. Mencken)
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To: stormer

Only in a cell by chlorophyll.

On its own, you just get lots more Brownian motion in the CO2 and H2O.


173 posted on 12/10/2009 1:51:17 PM PST by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: xcamel
Just because you don’t like the answer....

Oh, the answer was a predictable one. It's just the arrogant attitude of the source that I despise.

174 posted on 12/10/2009 1:52:27 PM PST by MamaTexan (If man evolved from apes, why do we still have apes?)
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To: metmom
And you know what lightning does to things, don’t you?

It depends on what you mean by 'things' and the power you are talking about. For the most part, I'm sure the answer you are looking for relates to "combustion" but remember that combustion is just a chemical reaction. If you are talking about a combustible material, then yes, combustion will occur, but lightening can also trigger chemicals to combine (throwing off or adding electrons into the mix, etc) or break apart.

175 posted on 12/10/2009 1:53:01 PM PST by mnehring
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To: stormer

Back to my favorite cyanobacter - turning the CO2 planet into an O2 paradise (and killing off most of whatever else had evolved up to that point)


176 posted on 12/10/2009 1:53:42 PM PST by xcamel (The urge to save humanity is always a false front for the urge to rule it. - H. L. Mencken)
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To: metmom

Recently, it was shown that Uracil (taked teh place of Thymine in RNA can be produced under conditions in outer space.
Science to pyrimidine (the precursor to Uracil) which has been shown to exist in space, to low temps (near absolute zero, with water (ice) which has been is very abundant in space, on the moon and Mars, and subjected it to radiation (simulating cosmic rays). They found that Uracil was produced.
One of the building blocks of RNA could possibly be produced in space.

As CSNY said “We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon...”


177 posted on 12/10/2009 1:54:34 PM PST by Wacka
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To: stormer

So, all those chemicals left to themselves will just sort of self-assemble under the *right* conditions?

And how long do those *right conditions* have to last to produce chemical structures complex enough to be viable?


178 posted on 12/10/2009 1:55:38 PM PST by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: mnehring

I just threw that in because a friend of mine just had a find from Kansas analyzed and it was loaded with simple amino acids.

really got the “planet 4” theory going again (asteroid belt)


179 posted on 12/10/2009 1:56:05 PM PST by xcamel (The urge to save humanity is always a false front for the urge to rule it. - H. L. Mencken)
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To: mnehring
In the lab, the Miller–Urey experiment (reproducible) required very little, a small spark triggered the chemical reaction.

Thank you. Not that I give credence to the science of PBS specials, but the last one I caught on the subject was talking about a massive amount of electricity from lightening. It didn't seem rational at the time because that amount of power would seem to COOK life, not create it. :-)

180 posted on 12/10/2009 1:56:22 PM PST by MamaTexan (If man evolved from apes, why do we still have apes?)
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