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To: shubi

How about some facts refuting evolution instead of petulant scoffing?

One of the most difficult problems facing those who accept the naturalistic origin of life is that the odds are against the chance formation of even the most simple organic molecules. The hormone, vasopressin, is a simple protein— simple as far as proteins are concerned. Vasopressin produced in the pituitary gland, prevents the loss of too much water in the body by regulating the action of the kidneys. Further, it increases a person’s blood pressure.

Chemically, vasopressin is made up of eight amino acids. These are, in order along the molecule glycinamide, arginine proline cystine asparagines, glutamine, phenylalanine, and tyrosine. The order in which these amino acids occur is extremely critical to the proper functioning of the hormone Even a switch in position between two amino acids along the molecule will destroy the correct function.

If we were to place just these eight amino acids in a hat and draw them all out one by one, we could expect to get them in the same order as they are in vasopressin only 1 out of every 40,320 attempts The reason is simple. When you draw out the first amino acid, there are eight possibilities. For the second choice, there are seven amino acids in the hat so there are only seven possibilities etc. Thus, the number of possibilities for the “vasopressin type” of hormone is 8 x 7 x 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1. This equals 40,320.

The number of possibilities increases dramatically as the protein molecule gets larger. Isaac Asimov* estimates that the 30 amino-acid-protein, insulin, has 8,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (eight octillion) different arrangements. He further estimates that the number of possible combinations for a 140 amino acid protein like hemoglobin is 135 followed by 165 zeroes. This is a larger number than all the atoms estimated in the universe.

Out of all these possibilities, the body can use only one arrangement. Asimov states, "Out of 40,320 possible vasopressin combinations, the body chooses just one out of eight octillion possible combinations; for one of the insulin polypeptides, the body chooses just one."

"The question is no longer where the body finds the variety it needs, but how it controls the possible variety and keeps it within bounds."**

*Isaac Asimov, The Genetic Code, New York: The New American Library, 1962, p. 92.

**lbid., p.93.

664 posted on 02/08/2005 4:10:08 PM PST by garybob (More sweat in training, less blood in combat.)
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To: garybob

"One of the most difficult problems facing those who accept the naturalistic origin of life"

Evolution does not speculate on the origin of life, so I guess that point is moot.


711 posted on 02/08/2005 5:32:57 PM PST by shubi (Peace through superior firepower.)
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To: garybob

That's a (very weak) argument refuting abiogenesis, not evolution. God could have created the first cell directly, it could have formed from a natural process, it could have come from outer space or it could have arisen in some way I can't imagine, and it would have no impact whatsoever on the evidence in favor of evolution. Evolution deals only with what happened after the first living organism was formed. It makes no statements about where that organisms came from originally.


945 posted on 02/09/2005 5:27:48 AM PST by stremba
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