Science

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Science Christianity Christian Faith at
the Interface of Physics, Chemistry,
BiologyJoong Jonathan LeeNovember 3, 2006
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Science is exciting!

• Only a rookie who knows nothing about science
  would say science takes away from faith. If you
  really study science, it will bring you closer to
  God. Prof. James Tour, Rice University

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Outline

• Physics - Universal Constants - Big Bang
• Chemistry - Synthesis of Biomolecules
• Biology - Evolution - Irreducible
  complexity - Fossils, fraud, facts

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1) Universal Physical Constants
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Just how precise?

• For example, Expansion of the Universe
• If larger, no galaxy formation
• If smaller, universe collapses before star
  formation
• ? In fact, its precise to a factor of 1 in
  100,000,000,000,000,000 (1)

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Even more precise for

• Force of Gravity
• If larger, stars would be too hot would burn up
  quickly unevenly
• If smaller, stars would be too cool nuclear
  fusion would not ignite (no heavy element
  production)
• ? In fact, its precise to a factor of 1 in
  10100 thats 100 zeros!
• 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  00000000000000000000000000000000000000
  0000000000000000000000 (1)

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Very, very, very precise!

• Over 50 such universal physical constants are
  likewise fine-tuned !
• ? Universe seems to be intentionally designed
  created for human life

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2) Big Bang Theory

• Big Bang Theory has been around since 1929
• but many refused to accept it because it
  threatened evolution.
• we must allow evolution an infinite time to get
  started. Sir Arthur Eddington (1882-1944)

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Big evidence for Big Bang

• 1992 COBE satellite (Cosmic Background Explorer)
  for background radiation
• Its the discovery of the century, if not for
  all time Stephen Hawking, Cambridge Univ.
• The handwriting of God What we have found is
  evidence for the birth of the universe Dr.
  George Smoot, COBE Project Leader, Lawrence
  Berkeley National Laboratory
• ? There was a beginning to our universe 15
  billion years ago

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Is 15 billion yrs enough time?

• Biophysicist Dr. Harold Morowitz wondered
• If you break all chemical bonds in a bacteria
  put atoms under ideal chemical conditions
• Q) How long would it take for it to reassemble?

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Answer 10100,000,000,000 years!

• Written out completely, that would be
• 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
  000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,00
  0,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
  000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,00
  0,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
  000,000,000,000,000,000,(on and on)
• ? 1,000 sets of Encyclopedia Britannicas
  filled with zeros!!(but the universe is only
  15,000,000,000 yrs)

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Physics Review

• Fine-tuned constants for life
• ? Appears intentionally designed
• Big Bang limits age of universe
• ? Not enough time for random chance

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3) Synthesis of Biomolecules
Nucleotides
RNA DNA
Amino Acids
Proteins (Enzymes)

• Big Problem Enzymes are required to help make
  Amino Acids Nucleotides
• ? Who made 1st amino acids nucleotides?

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Chicken or the Egg problem
Nucleotides
RNA DNA
Amino Acids BUILDING BLOCKS
Proteins (enzymes) BIG MACHINES

• Big Question Can we make building blocks
  without big machines?

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From early earth soup?

• 1924 Oparins hypothesis of prebiotic (early)
  earths composition
• Ammonia (NH3), hydrogen (H2), methane (CH4)
• 1953 Miller boiled these in water electrical
  sparks to simulate early earth
• ? got some amino acids

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Flaws of Millers experiment

• Only simplest amino acids produced as reaction
  continued, got destroyed
• UV radiation on early earth
• destroys ammonia (NH3)
• converts methane (CH4) to hydrocarbons
• Hydrogen (H2) escapes into the atmosphere
• Recent studies show early earth only had nitrogen
  (N2), carbon dioxide (CO2), water ? Completely
  different starting materials

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Miller now confesses

• 40 years later after his first experiment
  The problem of the origin of life has turned
  out to be much more difficult than I, and most
  other people, envisioned.
• ? Making these building blocks without big
  machines improbable!

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Other options?
Nucleotides (4)
RNA DNA
Amino Acids (20)
Proteins (enzymes)

• Panspermia theory Amino Acids arrive from outer
  space
• Q) Can random collision of these building
  blocks make big machines?

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No chance even w/ Amino Acids

• L-Amino Acids (vs. D-Amino Acids) 2 to 1
• Joining two AAs via a peptide bond 2 to 1
• Getting the right AA (out of the 20) 20 to 1
• Odds for 3 specified AAs in sequence would be
  (2220) x (2220) x (2220) 512,000 to 1
• For a typical protein of 100 AAs, odds would be
  (80)100 10190 to 1 ? outrageous odds!
• Time computer needs for right sequence 10170
  yrsBut the age of our universe is only
  1010 yrs

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From a Nobel Laureate

• Nobel Laureate Dr. Francis Crick The
  origin of life appears to be almost a miracle, so
  many are the conditions which would have had to
  be satisfied to get it going

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Chemistry Review

• Chicken or the Egg problem
• Spontaneous synthesis of first biomolecules is
  almost impossible
• Even with pre-formed AAs, not enough time for
  specified sequence

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4) Darwins Theory of Evolution

• Natural selection working on variation
• Random mutations ? changes
• Favorable mutations to next generation
• Dont keep bad mutations

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Small vs. Big

• Microevolution Small changes (coloration,
  height, etc.)
• ? this is acceptable
• Macroevolution To form brand new species
• ? this is under question

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Darwins own warning

• The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin
  (1809-1882) If it could be demonstrated that
  any complex organ existed which could not
  possibly have been formed by numerous,
  successive, slight modifications, my theory would
  absolutely break down.
• Note During Darwins days, the cell was a
  mysterious black box
• but now, we can see what its inside.

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Irreducible complexity inside

• Irreducible complexity (Dr. Behe)
• several interacting parts that contribute to
  the basic function the removal of any one of the
  parts causes the system to effectively cease
  functioning
• Example

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An example from biology

• Bacteria swim using this swirling flagella
  tail

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A closer look inside reveals

• a highly designed molecular machine !

? And many more being discovered now
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5) Fossil facts

• Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species
  all living species have been connected with the
  parent-species So that the number of
  intermediate and transitional links, must have
  been inconceivably great.
• ? So, we should be able to find many fossils of
  these many intermediates

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Transitional Intermediates?

• There should be intermediates that connect

but fossil records are lacking! ltVideo clipgt
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Desperate attempts

• Piltdown Man (1912)
• Bones were reshaped stained!
• Nebraska Man (1922)
• From a single tooth
• but it turned out to be a tooth of a wild pig!

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Be honest with facts

• Prof. David Raup U. of Chicago Field Museum
  of Natural History We are now about 120 years
  after Darwin and the knowledge of the fossil
  record has been greatly expanded. We now have a
  quarter of a million fossil species, but
  ironically, we have even fewer examples of
  evolutionary transition than we had in Darwins
  time. "Conflicts Between Darwin and
  Paleontology," Field Museum of Natural History
  Bulletin, January 1979, pg. 25
• A large number of well-trained scientists
  outside of evolutionary biology and paleontology
  have unfortunately gotten the idea that the
  fossil record is far more Darwinian than it is.
  This probably comes from the oversimplification
  inevitable in secondary sources low-level
  textbooks, semipopular articles, and so on.
  Also, there is probably some wishful thinking
  involved. In the years after Darwin, his
  advocates hoped to find predictable progressions.
  In general, these have not been found. Yet the
  optimism has died hard, and some pure fantasy has
  crept into textbooks. New
  Scientist, Vol. 90, p.832, 1981

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Fact or folly?

• Ernst Haeckel(1834-1919)
• Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny (aka
  Biogenetic Law)
• Development of an embryo goes through its
  evolutionary history
• But he faked changed drawings!

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Slow to change

• Haeckels fraud first exposed in 1915 Assmuth
  Hull, Haeckels Frauds and Forgeries

• Not only did Haeckel add or omit features,but
  he also fudged the scale to exaggerate
  similarities among species, even when there were
  10-fold differences in size E. Pennisi,
  Science, 277, p.1435 (1997)
• Finally, the 2002 edition of Molecular Biology of
  the Cell, (Alberts, et al.) removed it

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Old peppered moth example

• Thought was during industrial revolution,
  darker moths camouflaged better on tree trunks
  (pollution)
• but moths do not normally rest on tree trunks!
• Most textbook pictures are from manually
  positioning live moths or by gluing dead
  moths!Coyne, Not Black and White, Nature,
  396, 35-36 (1998)
• ? Evolution is becoming an endangered theory

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Biology Review

• Irreducible complexity of molecular machines
• ? Suggests an intelligent designer
• Still missing intermediate fossil records
• ? Suggests creation explosion (in short time)
• Misleading information still in books
• Stephen Jay Gould astonished and ashamed by
  the century of mindless recycling that has led to
  the persistence of these drawings in a large
  numberof modern textbooks.

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Final Conclusions

• Not enough time for random chance to produce
  complex biological machines
• Recent data strongly suggests an Intelligent
  Designer
• ? Now, former atheist Dr. Anthony Flew believes
  in God

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Some references

• Physics
• Hugh Ross, The Creator and the Cosmos (Colorado
  Springs NavPress, 2001)
• Chemistry
• J. P. Moreland (ed.), The Creation Hypothesis
  (Downers Grove, Illinois InterVarsity Press,
  1994)
• Charles Thaxton, Walter Bradley, and Roger Olsen,
  The Mystery of Lifes Origin Reassessing
  Current Theories (Dallas Lewis and Stanley,
  1992)

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• Biology
• Michael Behe, Darwins Black Box (New York The
  Free Press, 1996)
• General
• William Dembski and James Kushiner (eds.), Signs
  of Intelligence (Grand Rapids Brazos Press,
  2001)
• www.origins.org - www.ARN.org -
  www.reasons.org