Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Marine Science => Topic started by: Phillip Mercer on 08/03/2010 14:30:02

Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: Phillip Mercer on 08/03/2010 14:30:02
Phillip Mercer asked the Naked Scientists:
   
I heard your story about turtles moving through soft sand and how their flippers and angled perfectly and how to design a robot to do the same, it would take ages and many calculations.

With an animal so intricately suited to its environment, wouldn't saying that it came about by chance be the same as saying that the LHC, or a satellite, or even an automobile randomly came about by pure chance?

Is it that difficult to at least entertain the idea that Intelligent Design could be a possibility?

Kind Regards,

Phil Mercer

What do you think?
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: Bored chemist on 08/03/2010 19:46:32
Phillip,
For that to make any kind of sense you would need a designer; so you  start with a turtle - which is complicated and then you end up having to explain the designer of the turtle. The trouble is that the designer would need to be even more complicated so something would have been needed (by your logic) to design the designer.
Unfortunately, this designer of designers would need to be more complicated still and so on.
So not only do you need to explain the turtle, but you need to explain an ionfinite series of increasingly complex designers.
At best, that's pointless.

 Also this bit
"With an animal so intricately suited to its environment, wouldn't saying that it came about by chance be the same as saying that the LHC, or a satellite, or even an automobile randomly came about by pure chance? "
shows that you simply don't understand how evolution works.
You may find this interesting.

So to answer your question
"Is it that difficult to at least entertain the idea that Intelligent Design could be a possibility?" .

It is very difficult to do so, it is also unnecessary, and unhelpful.

Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: Geezer on 08/03/2010 23:20:13
I've never tried breeding turtles, but I'm pretty sure that if I did, I'd be able to significantly modify some of their characteristics through unnatural selection. This suggests they are still quite capable of evolving.

If they were "designed", apparently they were designed in a way that allows them to mutate and evolve. If they had been designed properly in the first place, they would all be identical and they would have no need to evolve.

Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: Madidus_Scientia on 09/03/2010 05:54:42
wouldn't saying that it came about by chance be the same as saying that the LHC, or a satellite, or even an automobile randomly came about by pure chance?

Yes, it would be silly to attribute it to chance. Which is why I don't believe they came about by chance, I think they came about via the process of evolution.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: JP on 10/03/2010 03:55:11
You may find this interesting.

Amazing video.  Thanks for sharing it!
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: Don_1 on 10/03/2010 16:17:07
Oh dear.

So my little chums here
 [ Invalid Attachment ]
are having their marine cousins used in 'evidence' of a god or intelligent designer eh!

Well, they don't take too kindly to that accusation and asked me to point out that turtles have had some 300 million years of evolution to get to where they are today.

The earliest fossils of turtles show they had teeth and were only half shelled. They have come a way since then and learned how to survive mass extinctions and how to walk on sand, amongst other things.

Would you not think an intelligent designer would have designed them the way they are today in the first place? In fact, doesn't that go for all life? Or is this intelligent designer so unintelligent, that it took around 100 million years to get turtle design right?

No sir, turtles are not evidence of an intelligent designer, if anything, they are quite the contrary.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: stereologist on 10/03/2010 18:07:23
One of the tricky things for people to understand is that it is easy to mess with people's sense of what random means. Here you say pure chance.

In a coin toss there are only 2 outcomes - heads or tails. The number of outcomes is limited. The same with evolution. The number of outcomes that is limited. The changes are due to mutations. Some are detrimental. Some are supportive. Some might not have a noticeable effect. The most important issue is that there are only a limited number of choices. At any given point in the evolutionary process their is a limit to what can happen.

I have seen creationists state openly or imply that the number of choices is overwhelming large. That simply isn't true.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: Mazurka on 16/03/2010 16:55:54
The difficulty I have with Intelligent Design is that it is trying to dress up creation in a pseudo scientific way. 

1)If people wish to believe that god created the world (in 4004BC - or whenever) they are welcome to.  To be clear as, personally as a kind of geologist, I think they are wrong, but that is my own view.

2)If people wish to believe that life somehow emerged from the primordial soup and evolved over billions of years to the complexity we see today, they are welcome to.  In my view they are right and there is plenty of evidence to support this.

If people wish to believe that some entity that is not a god (or by definition they believe in god) came along and designed life they are not considering where the entity came from which logically is either 1)a god or 2)evolution on some distant planet. 
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: norcalclimber on 18/03/2010 21:48:27
There is another form of intelligent design available though.  Epigenetics has shown us that DNA and evolution is far more complicated than we previously thought.  For instance, we can see from studies done with the stickleback fish among others, that it is very possible that many of the genes for large phenotypical changes are possibly present already in the DNA.  Epigenomic markers determines whether a specific gene is expressed at all, as well as how much it is expressed.  Stickleback fish bred away from their natural predators often cease expressing the protrusions which gave them their name.  This possibly gives us a clue as to how whales "lost" their legs.  In every study I have looked at, where the environment has been stressed in some way, the organism rapidly evolved into a more fit organism; often far quicker than we would expect from purely random mutations.  It is becoming increasingly obvious that life can and does evolve much faster than we previously thought.  Take the "nylon bug" for instance.

Possibly "intelligent design" is simply a local population evolving traits and changes because they will allow them to survive better, because they need to evolve.  Epigenetics proves life has found a way to manipulate DNA at least a little bit, perhaps life is actually capable of semi-directed mutation based on the experiences of the parent organism.

Could we even possibly make a guess as to when the ability to direct mutation may have first evolved?  From what I have read, life on Earth was extremely basic with very little diversity for the first ~3.5 billion years, then in a few hundred million years tens of thousands if not millions of new species showed up.  Could this be evidence for when "intelligent design" or epigenomic markers first evolved?
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: Samvolta on 24/03/2010 16:40:46
The outcome of evolutionary traits are almost limitless though there are obviously boundaries. Intelligent design works well if a turtle simply appeared, but turtles evolved in the late Triassic period from various other ancestors. Where did they come from? The randomness of evolution is too mind boggling in complexity to map every single mutation that led to the evolution of the turtle for example. Before the turtle, there were a myriad of different traits expressed in creatures leading up to the "finished product". It's too slow of a process to be considered an intelligent design. With evolution, the thousands of mutations that occur due to environmental pressures such as soft sand, the turtle would have adapted over millions of years to combat any inconvenience to the species.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: echochartruse on 26/03/2010 01:40:36
Phillip,
For that to make any kind of sense you would need a designer;

Maybe Mother Nature & Father Time
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: echochartruse on 26/03/2010 01:55:42
The outcome of evolutionary traits are almost limitless though there are obviously boundaries. Intelligent design works well if a turtle simply appeared, but turtles evolved in the late Triassic period from various other ancestors.

Earth did not always have turtles. We do now.
Did turtles always exist? Was it just the same species doing adaptaions to the surrounding
environment? Did an entirely new species come from another species?
did the kangaroo climb a tree to become a possum then decide to climb down and becoem a rock wallaby? then why didnt they all become possums?

Survival of the fittest, why didnt they all become one species what changed some to be another species, dont they know humans are top of the evolution chain. What part of evolution makes some species realise that they are needed for the survival of other species?

Sorry I have so many questions, I would like to understand.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: Geezer on 26/03/2010 05:43:15
Hi!

Echo, are you proposing an alternative theory to the theory of evolution as originally proposed by Darwin?

If so, please go for it!

TNS may not be the best place for you to propose a new theory, but if you want to present it here, we will do our best to ensure that your theory is reviewed and critiqued without prejudice.

Please understand that a theory is always a theory. It is never a "fact". A theory becomes accepted by the scientific community when very few scientists are willing to argue against it

The onus is on the presenter to convince "the community" that there is sufficient evidence to justify the theory. It is never the other way around.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: echochartruse on 26/03/2010 08:46:07
I'm the one asking the questions here not proposing anything
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: BenV on 26/03/2010 11:43:21
Earth did not always have turtles. We do now.
Did turtles always exist?
No, but the precursor to turtles has existed for a very long time.

Was it just the same species doing adaptaions to the surrounding environment? Did an entirely new species come from another species?
Essentially yes, but you shouldn't get hung up on the idea of different species.  "Species" are, after all, just labels that humans put on different things.

did the kangaroo climb a tree to become a possum then decide to climb down and becoem a rock wallaby? then why didnt they all become possums?

There was once an ancestor of all these animals.  Some of these (for whatever reason) spent more time in the trees - this population were then subject to the selection pressure of arborial life, and eventually became the species we now call the possum.  Other populations of this ancestor species moved into other environments, and different selective pressures acted.

Survival of the fittest, why didnt they all become one species what changed some to be another species, dont they know humans are top of the evolution chain.

This is due to the fact that several different things can be the "fittest" for different ways of life in the same area - each one specialising towards a different way of life.

Humans are not special - we're not top of the evolution chain - every extant species is the pinnacle of evolution.

What part of evolution makes some species realise that they are needed for the survival of other species?
No species does this (except humans, who do realise how reliant we are on other species) - all species merely adapt to the local conditions.  Local conditions includes the other species present.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: Geezer on 27/03/2010 07:49:35
I'm the one asking the questions here not proposing anything

Actually, Phillip Mercer is the one who asked the question. You can, of course, ask your own question by starting a new topic at any time.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: echochartruse on 28/03/2010 23:49:33
If they were "designed", apparently they were designed in a way that allows them to mutate and evolve. If they had been designed properly in the first place, they would all be identical and they would have no need to evolve.

If something can evolve to suit its environment, which has been established happens, then wouldn't any one think that there is some intelligents about it?


Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: rosy on 29/03/2010 08:55:24
Quote
If something can evolve to suit its environment, which has been established happens, then wouldn't any one think that there is some intelligents about it?
Um... no? Evolution is a necessary condition for life to survive in an environment which changes (not least as the result of living things trying to live in it). If one understands how evolution works, no other explanation is necessary.. abiogenesis, the origin of life from the "chemical soup" is a different and at present a much more interesting question and one that we haven't really answered as yet.
There are an awful lot of people out there (as evinced by the selection of google ads I'm looking at whilst typing this) who really, really want to Believe that it was all done by some "higher intelligence", and hey, maybe it was.. the thing about "higher intelligence"s is that we humans can attribute to them any properties we care to, but there's not a jot of evidence one exists (and the things we have to invoke them to explain get smaller and smaller as our understanding of the universe around us gets better.
If you want to Believe, go ahead and Believe, but it's going to have to be a matter of Faith and not of proovable fact.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: norcalclimber on 29/03/2010 17:36:37
Quote
If something can evolve to suit its environment, which has been established happens, then wouldn't any one think that there is some intelligents about it?
Um... no? Evolution is a necessary condition for life to survive in an environment which changes (not least as the result of living things trying to live in it). If one understands how evolution works, no other explanation is necessary.. abiogenesis, the origin of life from the "chemical soup" is a different and at present a much more interesting question and one that we haven't really answered as yet.
There are an awful lot of people out there (as evinced by the selection of google ads I'm looking at whilst typing this) who really, really want to Believe that it was all done by some "higher intelligence", and hey, maybe it was.. the thing about "higher intelligence"s is that we humans can attribute to them any properties we care to, but there's not a jot of evidence one exists (and the things we have to invoke them to explain get smaller and smaller as our understanding of the universe around us gets better.
If you want to Believe, go ahead and Believe, but it's going to have to be a matter of Faith and not of proovable fact.

Perhaps I am the one misinterpreting.... but it seems to me that echo is saying that the life itself which evolved to suit it's environment is the "intelligence", not some "higher power".  Personally, life seems extremely intelligent.... all I have to do is look around and I see some pretty incredible things which "life" came up with.  This doesn't make me believe in a "god", but it does make me suspect that life is far more complex than we realize.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: rosy on 29/03/2010 18:24:35
Hm. It's just possible we have an English-to-English translation issue here... 

My interpretation of "intelligent" includes not only doing stuff, but doing it to achieve an end. That might be me typing a comment on a forum, or my cat mewing for food or even, at a pinch, an insect jumping out of the way of a descending boot. Molecules, and when it comes right down to it the bits of life that aren't just molecules responding to their environment are insignificant compared to the bits that are (consider the full glory of an ATP cleaving, hydrogen pumping protein), can't have intelligence in this sense.

Evolution does (amazing!) stuff, but it's all done by tiny random changes (which may have large effects, or small effects, or effects which are only of cumulative importance). That's not, to my mind, either intelligence or design, it's just monumentally cool...

Once you start attributing "intelligence", in the means-to-an-end sense, to the processes of life, I'd say you're either invoking (whether you know it or not) a higher power, or attributing an equivalent level of intelligence to the little pots of (very simple) chemical soups currently stirring in my fumehood in the lab. I hold my hand up to suspecting them of being malicious, but then I'm a PhD student and I think I'm just being paranoid on that one.

Survival isn't an objective for life (although it may become so for life-forms), it's the end result of a whole lot of coincidences (those individuals which take a cautious approach to lions survive, those who don't, don't, and only the former pass on either genes or learnt behaviours).
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: norcalclimber on 29/03/2010 20:32:38
Hm. It's just possible we have an English-to-English translation issue here... 

My interpretation of "intelligent" includes not only doing stuff, but doing it to achieve an end. That might be me typing a comment on a forum, or my cat mewing for food or even, at a pinch, an insect jumping out of the way of a descending boot. Molecules, and when it comes right down to it the bits of life that aren't just molecules responding to their environment are insignificant compared to the bits that are (consider the full glory of an ATP cleaving, hydrogen pumping protein), can't have intelligence in this sense.

Evolution does (amazing!) stuff, but it's all done by tiny random changes (which may have large effects, or small effects, or effects which are only of cumulative importance). That's not, to my mind, either intelligence or design, it's just monumentally cool...

Once you start attributing "intelligence", in the means-to-an-end sense, to the processes of life, I'd say you're either invoking (whether you know it or not) a higher power, or attributing an equivalent level of intelligence to the little pots of (very simple) chemical soups currently stirring in my fumehood in the lab. I hold my hand up to suspecting them of being malicious, but then I'm a PhD student and I think I'm just being paranoid on that one.

Survival isn't an objective for life (although it may become so for life-forms), it's the end result of a whole lot of coincidences (those individuals which take a cautious approach to lions survive, those who don't, don't, and only the former pass on either genes or learnt behaviours).

Wow, if you honestly believe all the components of life are just monumental coincidences then you really have a tremendous amount of faith.

We also now know that evolution is not just "random changes".  It is still up for debate how much is actually "random", but without a shadow of a doubt we can see that epigenetics plays a huge part in DNA.  Epigenetics is the software which decides how to run the DNA code, and epigenetics is specifically influenced by choices made in the life of the organism.  Please watch "Was Darwin Wrong?" by Naked Science, at the end they discuss epigenetics a little bit; Pay close attention to what they tell us we are learning.

You can break up life into individual bases, but that is no longer life.  Life (as we know it) contains either DNA or RNA.  When you go smaller than that, it is no longer life but rather the components of life.  At that level, it may be purely chemical reaction.  Saying that the individual bases which are used to build life, are actually life, would be like saying a tire is a car.  Life, does in fact try to survive.  An individual tries to survive however it can, and a species tries to survive(through procreation) however it can.  A specific base may not have intelligence, but single celled bacteria certainly does... even though it is just a collection of bases.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: rosy on 29/03/2010 21:57:08
Quote
Wow, if you honestly believe all the components of life are just monumental coincidences then you really have a tremendous amount of faith.
You think so? Not really. The combination of random mutation and selection over a very long time seems to me to be a perfectly adequate explanation.
Yes, I know what epigenetics is.
Yes, epigenetics is important to what happens to an individual, that's not news. Barr bodies have been known about for years, and  which X chromosome it is that folds up is inherited between cells within an individual (including the effect to which carriers of haemophilia are themselves deficient in whichever-clotting-factor-it-is, and, according to my 1st year cell biology lecturer, tortoiseshell cats).
Certainly one might expect some epigenetic effects to carry over between generations.
And this is all very interesting. But I fail to see how it supports your vitalist speculations. All this talk of the "choices" organisms make.. do E. coli make choices in any meaningful sense? Do hair follicles? Hair follicles are on the face of it much more complicated cells than E. coli. Are you attributing this intelligence to some sort of "life force"? You seem to privilege the DNA polymer over individual bases, why? Do you believe DNA/RNA is in some way special (beyond the fact that it happens to form the basis of the genome?
I just can't work out where you imagine this "intelligence" works its way in. Can you explain?
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: norcalclimber on 29/03/2010 23:09:50
Quote
Wow, if you honestly believe all the components of life are just monumental coincidences then you really have a tremendous amount of faith.
You think so? Not really. The combination of random mutation and selection over a very long time seems to me to be a perfectly adequate explanation.
Yes, I know what epigenetics is.
Yes, epigenetics is important to what happens to an individual, that's not news. Barr bodies have been known about for years, and  which X chromosome it is that folds up is inherited between cells within an individual (including the effect to which carriers of haemophilia are themselves deficient in whichever-clotting-factor-it-is, and, according to my 1st year cell biology lecturer, tortoiseshell cats).
Certainly one might expect some epigenetic effects to carry over between generations.
And this is all very interesting. But I fail to see how it supports your vitalist speculations. All this talk of the "choices" organisms make.. do E. coli make choices in any meaningful sense? Do hair follicles? Hair follicles are on the face of it much more complicated cells than E. coli. Are you attributing this intelligence to some sort of "life force"? You seem to privilege the DNA polymer over individual bases, why? Do you believe DNA/RNA is in some way special (beyond the fact that it happens to form the basis of the genome?
I just can't work out where you imagine this "intelligence" works its way in. Can you explain?

And that is the crux of it.

Where is the line which delineates consciousness from purely chemical reaction?  Where does "choice" come in?

I really don't know.  But I do know that the more we understand about life, the more complex and dynamic we see it really is.  Purely random is already an abstract, because no matter what there is always a limited range of possibilities at the molecular level.  The more dynamic and complex we see life actually is, the more the range of possibilities appears to have been limited even further.  There is always an inherent random nature, this allows diversity.  But there is a separate level of control as well, which keeps a population stable enough to continue to reproduce.  I have no idea how exactly this control is exerted, how it gathers information, or how it makes choices.  But in the past 200 or so years of research, we have repeatedly seen that life is capable of evolving far more rapidly than we previously thought.  We have also seen that even significant phenotypical changes can occur without even changing the DNA.  We are discovering that what we used to think was "junk DNA" is actually critical.  I do feel that all life as we know it has some programmed desire for immortality, but I do not pretend to know where it came from nor do I think it is supernatural in any way.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: echochartruse on 30/03/2010 05:30:40


Perhaps I am the one misinterpreting.... but it seems to me that echo is saying that the life itself which evolved to suit it's environment is the "intelligence", not some "higher power".  Personally, life seems extremely intelligent.... all I have to do is look around and I see some pretty incredible things which "life" came up with.  This doesn't make me believe in a "god", but it does make me suspect that life is far more complex than we realize.

Thank you for putting it right, exactly what I meant
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: Geezer on 30/03/2010 05:53:54
[There is always an inherent random nature, this allows diversity.  But there is a separate level of control as well, which keeps a population stable enough to continue to reproduce.  I have no idea how exactly this control is exerted, how it gathers information, or how it makes choices.  But in the past 200 or so years of research, we have repeatedly seen that life is capable of evolving far more rapidly than we previously thought.  We have also seen that even significant phenotypical changes can occur without even changing the DNA.  We are discovering that what we used to think was "junk DNA" is actually critical.


These are good questions. However, if you are going to assert that these are scientifically proven theories, you really need to provide some support for them. Failing that, it's really just your opinion. Nothing wrong with having an opinion of course, but you really should try to distinguish between the two.

TNS tries to keep things upbeat and lighthearted. Science does not have to be boring, but TNS is also very interested in supporting proven scientific theory and all the incredibly painstaking research that goes along with it.

TNS also welcomes new theories too, which is why TNS has a forum for new theories.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: norcalclimber on 06/04/2010 06:55:17
[There is always an inherent random nature, this allows diversity.  But there is a separate level of control as well, which keeps a population stable enough to continue to reproduce.  I have no idea how exactly this control is exerted, how it gathers information, or how it makes choices.  But in the past 200 or so years of research, we have repeatedly seen that life is capable of evolving far more rapidly than we previously thought.  We have also seen that even significant phenotypical changes can occur without even changing the DNA.  We are discovering that what we used to think was "junk DNA" is actually critical.


These are good questions. However, if you are going to assert that these are scientifically proven theories, you really need to provide some support for them. Failing that, it's really just your opinion. Nothing wrong with having an opinion of course, but you really should try to distinguish between the two.

TNS tries to keep things upbeat and lighthearted. Science does not have to be boring, but TNS is also very interested in supporting proven scientific theory and all the incredibly painstaking research that goes along with it.

TNS also welcomes new theories too, which is why TNS has a forum for new theories.

Here is some evidence which shows why "junk" DNA is not actually junk:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071025112059.htm
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: Geezer on 06/04/2010 20:27:25

Here is some evidence which shows why "junk" DNA is not actually junk:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071025112059.htm

No disagreement there, but I don't understand how that might lead one to conclude that there was an intelligent designer.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: norcalclimber on 06/04/2010 21:39:21

Here is some evidence which shows why "junk" DNA is not actually junk:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071025112059.htm

No disagreement there, but I don't understand how that might lead one to conclude that there was an intelligent designer.

I completely agree that it wouldn't lead one to conclude there was an intelligent designer.  The evidence in support of an organism "designing" itself I posted on the topic where I asked if "intelligent design" evolved.  But as I had made the statement about junk DNA on this topic I thought I should answer that here.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: Geezer on 06/04/2010 23:46:39
Ah. OK - Thanks!
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: echochartruse on 30/04/2010 20:38:29
............... We are discovering that what we used to think was "junk DNA" is actually critical.

These are good questions. However, if you are going to assert that these are scientifically proven theories, you really need to provide some support for them. Failing that, it's really just your opinion. Nothing wrong with having an opinion of course, but you really should try to distinguish between the two.

TNS tries to keep things upbeat and lighthearted. Science does not have to be boring, but TNS is also very interested in supporting proven scientific theory and all the incredibly painstaking research that goes along with it.

please read
http://www.murdoch.edu.au/News/Shaking-up-the-theory-of-evolution/

https://www-pls.llnl.gov/?url=science_and_technology-life_sciences-junk_dna

Evidence is now being accumulated which indicates that much or most of this DNA may not be junk, but critical for life itself.

This view must be evaluated in light of the fact that the history of science is replete with now discarded theories that once supported Darwinism but increasing knowledge has rendered obsolete.  Examples include vestigial organs

New research is beginning to overturn the view that most of the genome has no function.

 
Quote from: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18680-junk-dna-gets-credit-for-making-us-who-we-are.html
In recent years, researchers have recognised that non-coding DNA, which makes up about 98 per cent of the human genome, plays a critical role in determining whether genes are active or not and how much of a particular protein gets churned out.

Now, two teams have revealed dramatic differences between the non-coding DNA of people whose genes are 99 per cent the same. "We largely have the same sets of genes. It's just how they're regulated that makes them different," says Michael Snyder, a geneticist at Stanford University in California.....
....Kelly Frazer, a genomicist at the University of California, San Diego, says the new studies help explain why many common mutations linked to diseases are located so far from any gene. For instance, a certain mutation that increases the risk of heart attack by 60 per cent is not close to a gene.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg, Frazer says. By homing in on non-coding DNA, researchers should begin to unravel what truly makes people different. "I think these two papers are the beginning of a field that's going to be growing rapidly in the next few years," she says.

Journal references: Science, DOIs: 10.1126/science.1184655 and 10.1126/science.1183621
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: RD on 30/04/2010 21:20:04
...  Examples include vestigial organs (the claim that in humans


Echochartruse's posts remind me of Asyncritus's (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=16535.msg191460#msg191460)
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: Geezer on 30/04/2010 22:00:22
............... We are discovering that what we used to think was "junk DNA" is actually critical.

These are good questions. However, if you are going to assert that these are scientifically proven theories, you really need to provide some support for them. Failing that, it's really just your opinion. Nothing wrong with having an opinion of course, but you really should try to distinguish between the two.

TNS tries to keep things upbeat and lighthearted. Science does not have to be boring, but TNS is also very interested in supporting proven scientific theory and all the incredibly painstaking research that goes along with it.

please read
http://www.murdoch.edu.au/News/Shaking-up-the-theory-of-evolution/

https://www-pls.llnl.gov/?url=science_and_technology-life_sciences-junk_dna

Evidence is now being accumulated which indicates that much or most of this DNA may not be junk, but critical for life itself.

This view must be evaluated in light of the fact that the history of science is replete with now discarded theories that once supported Darwinism but increasing knowledge has rendered obsolete.  Examples include vestigial organs (the claim that in humans

New research is beginning to overturn the view that most of the genome has no function.

 
Quote from: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18680-junk-dna-gets-credit-for-making-us-who-we-are.html
In recent years, researchers have recognised that non-coding DNA, which makes up about 98 per cent of the human genome, plays a critical role in determining whether genes are active or not and how much of a particular protein gets churned out.

Now, two teams have revealed dramatic differences between the non-coding DNA of people whose genes are 99 per cent the same. "We largely have the same sets of genes. It's just how they're regulated that makes them different," says Michael Snyder, a geneticist at Stanford University in California.....
....Kelly Frazer, a genomicist at the University of California, San Diego, says the new studies help explain why many common mutations linked to diseases are located so far from any gene. For instance, a certain mutation that increases the risk of heart attack by 60 per cent is not close to a gene.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg, Frazer says. By homing in on non-coding DNA, researchers should begin to unravel what truly makes people different. "I think these two papers are the beginning of a field that's going to be growing rapidly in the next few years," she says.

Journal references: Science, DOIs: 10.1126/science.1184655 and 10.1126/science.1183621

Thanks for the links Echo.

It makes sense that so caled junk DNA is not really junk. Presumably there is an energy cost associated with DNA replication. Nature is pretty good at eliminating waste, so would it allow something to persist that serves no purpose?
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: echochartruse on 04/05/2010 19:51:30
...  Examples include vestigial organs (the claim that in humans


Echochartruse's posts remind me of Asyncritus's (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=16535.msg191460#msg191460)

What did you actually want to say?..

if you would like me to expand on vestigial organs then you should first read these links.
http://isc.temple.edu/marino/embryology/parch98/parchdev.htm
http://www.embryology.ch/anglais/sdigestive/gesicht07.html#defpharynx34.

Science is evolving, what we thought was absolute and correct yesterday can be proved incorrect today.

Science has found that we dont have gills, that our appendix is usefull and so on.
That junk DNA is not junk.

If we sit on our theories and hold them in concrete, then science will stagnate.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: RD on 04/05/2010 20:13:53
...  Examples include vestigial organs (the claim that in humans


Echochartruse's posts remind me of Asyncritus's (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=16535.msg191460#msg191460)


What did you actually want to say?

I was just pointing out that arguments very similar to your own had been put forward by a chap called Asyncritus in this thread (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=16535.msg191460#msg191460).
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: echochartruse on 04/05/2010 20:41:38
I was just pointing out that arguments very similar to your own had been put forward by a chap called Asyncritus in this thread (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=16535.msg191460#msg191460).

After reading his thread, I will agree with you. But I am certain there are more than one other person who is not bound in their thinking becasue of a theory that was once accepted.

As we see happening today, proof is found to contradict what we had accepted once as scientific fact and the more we question, the more we explore and the more we come to realise and discover the absolute truth.

Many decades ago in year 10 I constantly argued with my science teacher and only now am I able to prove that the science fact I was taught, that I could not accept, has now been disproved.
No one knows all the answers but that should not stop us from asking the questions.

Life on earth did not happen by chance, I don't believe anything does.
Science's explaination for life is that "it just happened" Randomly without reason.
Sorry I cant accept that either for the fact it is not very scientific.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: echochartruse on 04/05/2010 21:00:55
I just read more of Asyncritus's posts and I would just like to add that even though I am not a religious person at all and I don't think there is a man called God that had a child called Jesus or any version of that story. I do actually believe that within every living thing on earth in our universe, there holds the key to its individual existence, which is much greater, more complex than "Random"
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: Geezer on 04/05/2010 21:09:17
now am I able to prove that the science fact I was taught, that I could not accept, has now been disproved.

Echo, what science do you believe has been disproved?
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: BenV on 04/05/2010 21:52:37
If we sit on our theories and hold them in concrete, then science will stagnate.

Life on earth did not happen by chance, I don't believe anything does.

Sitting on that hypothesis, are you?  Lots of things happen by chance, why would you have a problem with that?

At no point have we discussed the origins of life here.  Random mutation is merely one of the sources for variation, and evolution is far from random.  We've known for ages that "Junk" DNA is not just junk, we know transposons are important for organising the genome.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: RD on 04/05/2010 22:34:34
Science's explaination for life is that "it just happened" Randomly without reason.

There was/is a reason for all the various forms of life : natural selection (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_selection).


... more complex than "Random"

Complexity is not proof of design ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blind_Watchmaker
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: echochartruse on 05/05/2010 23:27:28
Definition RANDOM:- lacking any definite plan or order or purpose; governed by or depending on chance; "a random choice"

There was/is a reason for all the various forms of life : natural selection (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_selection).

So we both agree it is not RANDOM


Sitting on that hypothesis, are you?  Lots of things happen by chance, why would you have a problem with that?

When someone formulates a hypothesis, he or she does so with the intention of testing it, just because a hypothesis is wrong does not necessarily mean that it is able to be tested at that point in time, just that enough information isn't available at that time.

I suppose I could be a sheep and just follow without questioning, believe what I am told, but that is not science.
Randomness, by chance, is surprisingly rare.

Quote from: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100414134542.htm
"Classical physics simply does not permit genuine randomness in the strict sense," says JQI Fellow Chris Monroe, who led the experimental team. "That is, the outcome of any classical physical process can ultimately be determined with enough information about initial conditions.

At no point have we discussed the origins of life here.

Correct that is not what we are discussing here.

I was just pointing out that arguments very similar to your own had been put forward by a chap called Asyncritus in this thread (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=16535.msg191460#msg191460).
I was just defending myself as Asyncritus seems to have religious overtones.

Random mutation is merely one of the sources for variation, and evolution is far from random.


Correct then we must all agree that evolution is not RANDOM.

We've known for ages that "Junk" DNA is not just junk, we know transposons are important for organising the genome.


Unfortunately some of us have lived longer than ages and were taught differently in school.

Echo, what science do you believe has been disproved?

I was taught that there is junk DNA left over from our evolution through various species that is no longer need but still exists.

That brown eyes will always be dominant in offspring where one parent has brown and the other say blue eyes.

That we as a foetus have gills and our appendix has no use.

A mutation is a permanent change in the DNA sequence of a gene. Please tell me, is any change in DNA sequence permanent? If so wouldn’t this halt evolution?

I was told that evolution is not determined by our environment but ‘random mutation’

Does everyone here believe that evolution is based on random mutation?


Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: RD on 06/05/2010 00:02:13
Definition RANDOM:- lacking any definite plan or order or purpose; governed by or depending on chance; "a random choice"

There was/is a reason for all the various forms of life : natural selection (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_selection).

So we both agree it is not RANDOM

The changes were/are random,
 the prevailing environment selected for those random changes which were beneficial, a.k.a. natural selection (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_selection).
 No teleology, No design.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: echochartruse on 06/05/2010 00:17:03
Complexity is not proof of design ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blind_Watchmaker

Quote from: http://www.science.org.au/nova/094/094key.htm
What is a Complex System?
It's a revolution because working with complex systems goes against traditional science practice. Until now, scientists have spent a lot of time breaking things down into ever smaller component parts – known as reductionism – to understand how each part works in isolation of other parts, only to find that this does not help to understand how the whole system works together...............Although there are a wide variety of systems that are complex, they all have two elements in common. They all exhibit emergence and self organisation.

self organisation!
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: RD on 06/05/2010 00:46:59
Complexity is not proof of design ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blind_Watchmaker

Quote from: http://www.science.org.au/nova/094/094key.htm
What is a Complex System?
It's a revolution because working with complex systems goes against traditional science practice. Until now, scientists have spent a lot of time breaking things down into ever smaller component parts – known as reductionism – to understand how each part works in isolation of other parts, only to find that this does not help to understand how the whole system works together...............Although there are a wide variety of systems that are complex, they all have two elements in common. They all exhibit emergence and self organisation.

self organisation!

Are you suggesting self organization is proof of intelligence or an intelligent designer ?.

Crystals self-organise but they are not intelligent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystallization#Crystallization_in_nature

Computer automata self-organise but they are not intelligent,
(their complex stable patterns emerge from elements repeatedly following very simple rules).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_automaton
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: echochartruse on 06/05/2010 02:51:52


Are you suggesting self organization is proof of intelligence or an intelligent designer ?.

Crystals self-organise but they are not intelligent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystallization#Crystallization_in_nature

Computer automata self-organise but they are not intelligent,
(their complex stable patterns emerge from elements repeatedly following very simple rules).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_automaton

Truthfully we all have limited ability to see how evolution works but it doesn't happen over vast periods of time, like we were taught at school. I doubt that anything is truely random, its just that we haven't found the answers yet.

Evolution depends on environment, time and networking, (The ability to be influenced or not by whats around.). Yes even crystals network to grow.
How evolution knows to depend on nature time and networking is the question.
My opinion is that it is not scientific to think "it just happens".

DNA networks with RNA to form life. How does it know to network? What compels it to do it?
What compels them to network and form life? Obviously we just haven't found the answers yet.

Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: BenV on 06/05/2010 08:23:48

Truthfully we all have limited ability to see how evolution works but it doesn't happen over vast periods of time, like we were taught at school. I doubt that anything is truely random, its just that we haven't found the answers yet.

Evolution depends on environment, time and networking, (The ability to be influenced or not by whats around.). Yes even crystals network to grow.
How evolution knows to depend on nature time and networking is the question.
Evolution doesn't know anything, so that's not a useful question.
 
Quote
My opinion is that it is not scientific to think "it just happens".

DNA networks with RNA to form life. How does it know to network? What compels it to do it?
What compels them to network and form life? Obviously we just haven't found the answers yet.
Or you're asking the wrong questions. Nothing "compels" chemistry to happen. And what's so wrong in accepting that sometimes things happen without a reason?
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: norcalclimber on 06/05/2010 16:34:22

Truthfully we all have limited ability to see how evolution works but it doesn't happen over vast periods of time, like we were taught at school. I doubt that anything is truely random, its just that we haven't found the answers yet.

Evolution depends on environment, time and networking, (The ability to be influenced or not by whats around.). Yes even crystals network to grow.
How evolution knows to depend on nature time and networking is the question.
Evolution doesn't know anything, so that's not a useful question.
 
Quote
My opinion is that it is not scientific to think "it just happens".

DNA networks with RNA to form life. How does it know to network? What compels it to do it?
What compels them to network and form life? Obviously we just haven't found the answers yet.
Or you're asking the wrong questions. Nothing "compels" chemistry to happen. And what's so wrong in accepting that sometimes things happen without a reason?

I agree with BenV here, I think lots of random things happen all the time.  I think that, even if our recent evolution may have had some control exerted on it by the life forms evolving, whether life occurs somewhere is random to some extent.  Actually it seems to me that if there is a god or creator, then random chance is actually very important to it. 

Let's look at the question of god logically real quick:

If there is a creator, and it created the universe, then we should be able to know the will of god simply by looking at its creation.  What I see is a whole bunch of laws of physics, but absolutely no evidence of direct manipulation.  This seems to say to me that if there is a creator, then it simply created everything and then let whatever could happen, happen.  This would mean that life evolving in the universe was not random, but the specific place it evolves is random.  This also implies that humans really aren't very special overall, and I agree with that personally.

I personally do not believe in a conscious creator.... I wouldn't be surprised if there was a "force" of sorts which causes things like what we call the universe to be created, but I don't think there is any evidence of a God which is watching over us and cares what we do, which is what "intelligent design" typically refers to.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: echochartruse on 06/05/2010 17:11:53

I agree with BenV here, I think lots of random things happen all the time. 

Evolution Is Deterministic, Not Random, Biologists Conclude From Multi-Species Study
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071119123929.htm

Sorry I have to disagree

Even when "random / chance" can be explained, we still prefer to use the word. Its just getting our head around it.

How Evolution Learns From Past Environments To Adapt To New Environments
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081107071822.htm

Distribution Of Creatures Great And Small Can Be Predicted Mathematically
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080717174939.htm

Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: norcalclimber on 06/05/2010 17:51:00

I agree with BenV here, I think lots of random things happen all the time. 

Evolution Is Deterministic, Not Random, Biologists Conclude From Multi-Species Study
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071119123929.htm

Sorry I have to disagree

Even when "random / chance" can be explained, we still prefer to use the word. Its just getting our head around it.

How Evolution Learns From Past Environments To Adapt To New Environments
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081107071822.htm

Distribution Of Creatures Great And Small Can Be Predicted Mathematically
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080717174939.htm



Now we're talking about modern evolution again though, and here is where I agree that modern evolution is not random.  The thing is, that's only the past 750 million years or so.  Life looks to have been on Earth for about 4.4 billion years, and random may have certainly ruled the day for the first 3.5 billion years of evolution.

I agree that many things which have appeared random are not actually, but there is a big step between that and saying that nothing is random.  I think free will is extremely important, and free will provides a certain degree of random inherent in everything, IMHO.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: echochartruse on 06/05/2010 18:39:14
There was/is a reason for all the various forms of life : natural selection (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_selection).
Natural Selection Not The Only Process That Drives Evolution?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090126203207.htm
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: echochartruse on 06/05/2010 19:16:49

Now we're talking about modern evolution.........


Galaxy Formation Not Random, Says Astronomer
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/02/010226070416.htm
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: echochartruse on 06/05/2010 19:24:28
I think free will is extremely important, and free will provides a certain degree of random inherent in everything, IMHO.

Quote from: Do Fruit Flies Have Free Will? http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070516071806.htm
"When scientists observe animals responding differently even to the same external stimuli, they attribute this variability to random errors in a complex brain." Using a combination of automated behavior recording and sophisticated mathematical analyses, the international team of researchers showed for the first time that such variability cannot be due to simple random events but is generated spontaneously and non-randomly by the brain. These results caught computer scientist and lead author Alexander Maye from the University of Hamburg by surprise:
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: BenV on 07/05/2010 08:53:47
Echo - we're not saying that evolution is random, but that mutation, one of the sources for variation that evolution can act upon, is.

I'm still not sure I understand your point of view on this - I'm don't know what you think is true, or what you're trying to convince us of.

Random mutation is one aspect of non-random evolution, there are other aspects but there is no evidence of 'design'.  Epigenetic factors can influence evolution, but as of yet the evidence seems to be that they alter the genome in response to environmental factors, and so are another aspect of natural selection.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: imatfaal on 08/05/2010 13:06:11
Echo

I have read through some of the original academic articles upon which the sciencedaily.com posts are based upon.  Perhaps not surprisingly for a piece of journalism rather than an academic article they tend to be more sensationalist and less restrained.  Whilst I am not an expert, from the articles I have read, sciencedaily.com has extrapolated quite an extended wide-ranging headline from focussed and precise observations; whilst this can be correct it can also be misleading.

I am sure that someone so obviously interested and well-informed as yourself could gain a great deal from engaging with the original article - they are fasciniating and accessible (to a minor extent) to even an amateur such as myself.  I don't think they bear out your argument to the extent that the posts from sciencedaily.com might imply.

Fascinating argument.

Matthew

if you are unsure how to get free copies of such academic articles you can try this method to see if one exists on the internet.  Search on google scholar (under 'more' on google homepage) for the lead author and a few key words (ie Karin Kiontke vulva) - then click on All 11 versions.  There is often a version that provides pdf link (on rhs of screen) to the article.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: echochartruse on 11/05/2010 05:56:49
Echo - we're not saying that evolution is random, but that mutation, one of the sources for variation that evolution can act upon, is.

--"random mutation over vast periods of time."

Today we agree evolution happens constantly throughout ages, what we do today effects our generations genome.

Protein coding genes of humans and chimpanzees are about 99 percent the same so therefore it is how the genes are regulated, turned on and off that makes us different.

Random mutation is one aspect of non-random evolution,

What type of Zen is this?
We get Cosmos out of chaos?
Random mutation just does not happen, why is science trying to prove "Random Mutation"?

As the genomes of various organisms became known, it turned out that complex and simple organisms differ less than anticipated in the sizes and makeup of their genomes; complexity of an organism is now believed to be reflected mainly in the manner in which expression is regulated.

A 'mutation' is linked to disease and cancer.
This is actually a misregulation of genes or fluctuations in genes giving choice for one of exact same genes in the same environment to alter. Why the fluctuation, we dont know yet but I'm sure it's not random,

Proteins read DNA sequence from beginning to end and translate this information in turn into new protein, which are essentially molecules that build the cells structure and control biochemical processes.  The environment, time and gene/protein networking all work together and results in adaptation/evolution.

Bacteria, fungi and parasites, unlike viruses, appear to have allowed the introduction of misregulations in the genes of some proteins of the innate immunity system, thus enabling greater genetic variability. In some cases, these misregulations may even constitute an advantage, giving the host improved resistance to infectious diseases.

The only way I see a misregulation of a gene effectivily assisting evolution is in a situation as my example of the Tassie Devils where prior to the TDFT disease they had clone type DNA, no variation in their geneome. A mutation/misregulation of genes: (cancer), occured due to the environment. This caused the Tassie Devils to breed at a much earlier age for their own survival. Now scientists find, their genes have diversified to regulate to combat the cancer in the near future.

mutation/misregulation of genes is not the only force of evolution, genes can be turned on and off, shuffled, co operate together, network to evolve.

The Tasmainina Devil's ability to know to breed earlier to have offspring that could contain a regulated gene to survive the cancer is one of the mechanisms in their evolution, its not random but for a purpose. How do they know to do this?
However it appears intelligent to me, not random.






Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: BenV on 11/05/2010 07:57:41
Echo - we're not saying that evolution is random, but that mutation, one of the sources for variation that evolution can act upon, is.

--"random mutation over vast periods of time."

Today we agree evolution happens constantly throughout ages, what we do today effects our generations genome.

Protein coding genes of humans and chimpanzees are about 99 percent the same so therefore it is how the genes are regulated, turned on and off that makes us different.

Random mutation is one aspect of non-random evolution,

What type of Zen is this?
We get Cosmos out of chaos?
Random mutation just does not happen, why is science trying to prove "Random Mutation"?

Science isn't trying to prove random mutation, as it's just a fact that mutations occur at random throughout the genome during cell divisions.  There's no getting away from the fact that random mutation is one source of variation on which evolution can act.

I'm not sure what you think this has to do with DFTD, but they don't "know" that mating earlier will help. The disease must be altering their population structure in some way, and this means they are mating earlier.

Does anyone know the 'normal' mating patterns for Tasmanian devils? Is it a hareem structure? Do the males fight for mating access?
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: Geezer on 11/05/2010 08:00:15

Protein coding genes of humans and chimpanzees are about 99 percent the same so therefore it is how the genes are regulated, turned on and off that makes us different.


I don't think that's quite right.

Humans and chimpanzees are very similar in very many respects. I think the small differences between our genomes account for the small differences between chimpanzees and humans.

Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: echochartruse on 12/05/2010 01:27:19
Science isn't trying to prove random mutation, as it's just a fact that mutations occur at random throughout the genome during cell divisions.  There's no getting away from the fact that random mutation is one source of variation on which evolution can act.

"In all organisms, genes get duplicated every so often, for reasons we don't fully understand," said Ariel Fernandez, professor of bioengineering at Rice University. "It is a coping mechanism,

RANDOM = lacking any definite plan or order or purpose;
Evolution is not random just that we don't fully understand yet.

Quote from: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091203132146.htm
...the supposedly random shuffling of large chunks of DNA that frequently lead to cancer -- aren't so random after all...

Quote from:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100304121546.htm
Why Our Peripheral Vision May Not Be as Random as We Think

Quote from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudorandom_number_generator
A pseudorandom number generator (PRNG), also known as a deterministic random bit generator (DRBG)[1], is an algorithm for generating a sequence of numbers that approximates the properties of random numbers. The sequence is not truly random in that it is completely determined by a relatively small set of initial values, called the PRNG's state.

NOT RANDOM - what I am arguing is that RANDOM is not scientific. Work carried out on disease has found that gene ‘mutation’ is not random. Not fully understood YET but definitely not random.

In my point of view if it was entirely random then there must be a greater force controlling it and this gives way to creation.

MUTATION is where a cell has been misregulated, say.. duplicated and causes a disease. Regulated is when genes have been turned on or off, shuffled or rearranged they are not mutated.

2 identical twins can have the same DNA exactly. Due to gene regulation or misregulation they differ. Misregulation causes disease, sickness and regulation distinguishes individuality.

RANDOM MUTATION as you speak and in our text books is old hat and has been proven to be not random. Our DNA is constantly changing due to environment, time and networking. Unfortunately science has not found another word for the incorrect word Random and it gets used too much when things are not at all random and/or can't be explained yet.

I'm not sure what you think this has to do with DFTD, but they don't "know" that mating earlier will help. The disease must be altering their population structure in some way, and this means they are mating earlier.
Does anyone know the 'normal' mating patterns for Tasmanian devils? Is it a hareem structure? Do the males fight for mating access?
Devils are solitary animals with the females having more contact with each other than males, they are nocturnal and mate underground.  Said to start breeding in their second year. The young are weaned at 5-6 months. Males usually breed with more than one female and it has been observed that female Devils are very selective with whom they breed with. Females choose their mate.The cancer will kill around 3 months after contracting.
http://www.devilsonverandah.com.au/tasmanian_devil_breeding.htm
"To our knowledge, this is the first known case of infectious disease leading to increased early reproduction in a mammal," they wrote in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.


Protein coding genes of humans and chimpanzees are about 99 percent the same so therefore it is how the genes are regulated, turned on and off that makes us different.


I don't think that's quite right.

Humans and chimpanzees are very similar in very many respects. I think the small differences between our genomes account for the small differences between chimpanzees and humans.


Quote from: http://www.broadinstitute.org/news/263
1.   The chimpanzee and human genomes are strikingly similar and encode very similar proteins. The DNA sequence that can be directly compared between the two genomes is almost 99 percent identical. When DNA insertions and deletions are taken into account, humans and chimpanzees still share 96 percent sequence identity.
Biologically, DNA is the common language of every living thing. By opening up the cells of any living thing - bacteria, plants, moulds or ourselves - we find DNA controlling every activity. A close look at DNA shows that humans are remarkably similar to the rest of the living world - sharing about 98% of our DNA with chimpanzees.
While the DNA of almost all organisms is distinct in its fine detail, the overall structure of the DNA found in every living organism is the same.
However each species has its own characteristics and among humans only identical twins share the same DNA.
Even the DNA of plants is similar to that of humans. We share 60% of our DNA with a banana.

OK so from 96-99% depending which science journal you read.

which indicates to me that DNA is same across the range depending on what is turned on or off, shuffled etc.

Exactly why, how DNA knows to turn on and off, shuffle, rearrange is amazing and not random. Why the Tassie Devils are breeding earlier for their survival is amazing, not random but hopefully their earlier breeding will contribute to their offspring being able to reshuffle their genes to cope with the disease.


Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: Geezer on 12/05/2010 05:40:59
Quote from: http://www.broadinstitute.org/news/263
1.   The chimpanzee and human genomes are strikingly similar and encode very similar proteins. The DNA sequence that can be directly compared between the two genomes is almost 99 percent identical. When DNA insertions and deletions are taken into account, humans and chimpanzees still share 96 percent sequence identity.
Biologically, DNA is the common language of every living thing. By opening up the cells of any living thing - bacteria, plants, moulds or ourselves - we find DNA controlling every activity. A close look at DNA shows that humans are remarkably similar to the rest of the living world - sharing about 98% of our DNA with chimpanzees.
While the DNA of almost all organisms is distinct in its fine detail, the overall structure of the DNA found in every living organism is the same.
However each species has its own characteristics and among humans only identical twins share the same DNA.
Even the DNA of plants is similar to that of humans. We share 60% of our DNA with a banana.

OK so from 96-99% depending which science journal you read.

which indicates to me that DNA is same across the range depending on what is turned on or off, shuffled etc.


Why would it have to? Humans are very closely related to chimpanzees, so it's hardly surprising that our genomes are very similar. While a 1% difference does not sound like much, relative to the total genome it still represents a colossal amount of information. I would think it's quite sufficient to account for the minor differences between the two species.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: BenV on 12/05/2010 08:42:37
Echo, you're still mixing two different aspects. Mutations happen in DNA with no discernable pattern - they are random.

With the devils, it sounds like DFTD is changing selection pressures. If females chose a mate they may be more likely to do so with a male that lacks a facial tumour. You're right, this is not random, but you seem to think that someone said it is.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: echochartruse on 13/05/2010 02:29:20
Thus, a more interesting issue for discussion is "why does the non-randomness of mutation keep getting ignored?".

Read more: Are mutations truly random? - The Scientist - Magazine of the Life Sciences http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/56267/#ixzz0nlPErxwC

Another reason that a scientific finding gets ignored is that it runs counter to deeply entrenched doctrines or habits of thought. In this case, there are so many scientists devoted to the Darwinian catechism that mutation is "random" that they have continued to repeat this long after it was known to be untrue, and they will even change the definition of "random" to provide more wiggle room to continue saying that mutation is "random".

Read more: Are mutations truly random? - The Scientist - Magazine of the Life Sciences http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/56267/#ixzz0nlPYInUf

If the Tassie Devils new genetic ability to breed at a younger age is not random-, why not?
Why is mutation split between random and non random what makes it random what makes it non random?
If a fish decides to walk on the earth via random mutation, then you would suggest there is not a cause to do so? That it just happened of its own free will?

Why is it that only one type of fish was effected by random mutation which led to more random mutation to eventually evolve into human?

Are certain species more susceptible to randomness than others?

Mutations arise randomly with respect to selective advantage in the current environment.
I read this in a few scientific sites and books and find it very contradictory, … they choose randomly selective advantages,… clever things!

Evolution Is Deterministic, Not Random, Biologists Conclude From Multi-Species Study
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071119123929.htm

How Evolution Learns From Past Environments To Adapt To New Environments
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081107071822.htm

Distribution Of Creatures Great And Small Can Be Predicted Mathematically
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080717174939.htm
Galaxy Formation Not Random, Says Astronomer
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/02/010226070416.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070516071806.htm
and so on and so on

every action has an equal or opposite reaction, I believe nothing is random, it just takes time to prove and understand. By suggesting randomness in my perspective, suggests a greater force is in control, one that is above testing or proof.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: echochartruse on 13/05/2010 04:09:21
I'll say it like this........

I don't think mutations are random but caused through effect.

Mutations are the effect of [random changes (by chance)].
These changes are not firstly initiated within the gene but through random causes whether they are related to inherited and/or acquired and/or other environmental conditions including time.

Therefore the mutation is not random at all. The mutation occurs deterministically through associated networking within genome, environment and time. (How, may/may not be proven yet)

Hey! I knew if the water supply to Tassie devils was going to be toxic, then how stupid would I be if I thought it wasn't going to effect them. (the toxin is the random part).

The gene change/mutation allowing them to breed earlier can/could be calculated, whether or not we know how yet. "with a discernable pattern".

The toxins gave them the chance.

The change in the gene is not random. 'random mutation'

Everything has a cause and effect. The genome just doesn't decide one day to choose a different path and mutate, without purpose or process for an unknown reason for the advantage of itself.

When we fully understand how genes are regulated then things may become more predictable and less 'random'
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: BenV on 13/05/2010 08:15:41
I still don't understand you, echo. The Tasmanian devil example is completely irrelevant when discussing whether DNA mutates at random or not.

You still seem to want evolution and mutation to mean the same thing. They don't, and no one here is saying they do.

Again, random mutation is one of the sources of variety in DNA that non-random natural selection can act upon.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: echochartruse on 17/05/2010 02:58:27
I still don't understand you, echo. The Tasmanian devil example is completely irrelevant when discussing whether DNA mutates at random or not.

You still seem to want evolution and mutation to mean the same thing. They don't, and no one here is saying they do.

Again, random mutation is one of the sources of variety in DNA that non-random natural selection can act upon.

I'm not saying mutation = evolution at all.

Random mutation is disease such as cancer. The cancer which is random mutation is allowing the devils to adapt genetically to survive by being able to genetically alter their genes so they can mature earlier and breed earlier. This in turn may or may not help their off spring to survive the Cancer. Though the cancer it self is evolving. Scientists hope that an immunity can be passed down to the offspring. Normally the devils breed at around 2 yrs of age now they are maturing earlier and breed at 1 yr old. This is the first recorded case.

Mutation sounds permanent but it is not. mutations are alterations/adaptations which can change.

Nothing is actually random, just that we have not found or discovered the process/cause/effect. Random would suggest a higher intelligence beyond our understanding.

The Tibetans have developed genes to help them live 14,000 feet above sea level or higher, where the atmosphere contains much less oxygen than at sea level, most Tibetans do not overproduce red blood cells and do not develop lung or brain complications.

'But the Tibetans have evolved genes that others living at similar elevations have not developed, according to Lynn B. Jorde, Ph.D., professor and chair of human genetics at the U of U School of Medicine and a senior author on the study.'


bold italic mine


This could be so for the devils which have a mechanism in place already after 10 years which enables them to breed earlier in hope to allow immunity to be passed on.



Quote from: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090126203207.htm
many of the genetic changes leading to human-specific characters may be the result of the fixation of harmful mutations.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: echochartruse on 17/05/2010 03:14:07
Quote from: Natural Selection Not The Only Process That Drives Evolution http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090126203207.htm
The researchers identified fast evolving human genes by comparing our genome with those of other primates. However, surprisingly, the patterns of molecular evolution in many of the genes they found did not contain signals of natural selection. Instead, their evidence suggests that a separate process known as BGC (biased gene conversion) has speeded up the rate of evolution in certain genes. This process increases the rate at which certain mutations spread through a population, regardless of whether they are beneficial or harmful.........This contrasts the traditional Darwinistic view that they are the result of natural selection in favour of adaptive mutations.

bold italics mine
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: Geezer on 17/05/2010 03:42:48
This process increases the rate at which certain mutations spread through a population, regardless of whether they are beneficial or harmful.........This contrasts the traditional Darwinistic view that they are the result of natural selection in favour of adaptive mutations.


As Darwin knew nothing about genetic mutation, describing this as "non-Darwanistic" strikes me as a heaviy biased editorial slant. All this appears to say is that mutations might occur more rapidly than previously though.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: echochartruse on 17/05/2010 06:40:16
As Darwin knew nothing about genetic mutation, describing this as "non-Darwanistic" strikes me as a heaviy biased editorial slant. All this appears to say is that mutations might occur more rapidly than previously though.

Ok, instead of random mutation, think of it as we know it now as 'Genetic Mutation'
I would agree with that.

Please forget the word 'random' there is nothing random about it.

"Genetic adaptation by networking within the geneome, influenced by environment and time."
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: BenV on 17/05/2010 07:54:15
Quote
Random mutation is disease such as cancer.

No it isn't. Random mutation is simply genetic change with no pattern. It is one of the sources of variation on which natural selection can work, and it exists.

Sometimes, yes, it can lead to diseases. So you know that random mutation happens, but for some reason you then claim it doesn't.

Do you understand what I'm saying?
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: echochartruse on 17/05/2010 12:58:48

Echo - we're not saying that evolution is random, but that mutation, one of the sources for variation that evolution can act upon, is.

I disagree the so called 'mutation' you speak of doesn't just happen. firstly there is a cause for the genes to change/alter/ shuffle/turn on or off.
The "mutation" is not the source for adaptation or evolution. The change comes from the environment, hereditary, time,
Yes genetic change is within the process, a mechanism,there is nothing random about it. We will eventually understand all changes in our geneome.
Change/mutation is not the source for evolution it is one effect that evolution requires.

Yes I do agree change in our genes must happen before we can evolve.

mutations are defined as permanent which would halt evolution, random is not so random when we understand how/why

I have used the words you yourself use to explain things (random mutation) but truely does anyone think genes change without cause that they are their own source of evolution an not an effect or mechanism within evolution. does anyone truely think that these changes are permanent or random?


Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: rosy on 17/05/2010 13:44:07
echochartruse-
So... evolution:
1. a random copying error in gene replication causes an alteration in the genetic sequence
2. the synthesis of proteins based on the DNA-RNA-protein transcription/translation sequence makes a protein which differs slightly from that which occurs in the un-mutated cells (or indeed no protein is made or a previously dormant gene is newly able to be transcribed, or more or less of a particular protein is synthesised)
3. the (subtley) altered protein make-up of the cell alters the organism, making it (dependent on its environment) more or less able to reproduce successfully (or indeed pretty much equivalently capable of reproducing - a neutral mutation)
4. the organism has more/the same number of/fewer/no offspring, and thus is, or isn't, more numerous in future generations

As far as I can tell, your problem is with step one, but this is astonishingly well demonstrated in humans, bacteria, mice, you name it... and yes, those "copying errors" are both permanent and random. To suggest they could be anything else is frankly ludicrous (or requires the intervention of some form of intelligent, intervening deity... of course the thing about intelligent deities is we can't disprove them, only point out that there's an entirely satisfactory and more parsimonious solution which does not require one).

Possibly what you need to do is go away and read up on transcription. In which case you could start with wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcription_(genetics)
Once you understand why random mutations are not, or should not be, a conceptual problem, maybe you could come back and discuss this further.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: norcalclimber on 17/05/2010 20:20:26


As far as I can tell, your problem is with step one, but this is astonishingly well demonstrated in humans, bacteria, mice, you name it... and yes, those "copying errors" are both permanent and random. To suggest they could be anything else is frankly ludicrous (or requires the intervention of some form of intelligent, intervening deity... of course the thing about intelligent deities is we can't disprove them, only point out that there's an entirely satisfactory and more parsimonious solution which does not require one).



I agree that some copying errors are probably completely random... but I have to disagree with you when you say that positing some of what are call "transcription errors" are not random is ludicrous or would require some creator.  I think it is quite possible (as I've stated before) that some "errors" are actually "chosen" by the epigenome.  At the same time, I think it would be wrong to say that no mutation is random.  However, if after a few more decades of study it is proven that the epigenome can "choose" mutation, I think it is likely that the vast majority(but certainly not all) of mutations are probably not random.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: echochartruse on 23/05/2010 19:47:07

Possibly what you need to do is go away and read up on transcription. In which case you could start with wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcription_(genetics)
Once you understand why random mutations are not, or should not be, a conceptual problem, maybe you could come back and discuss this further.

Well i have gone away and read some more but still do not understand how science even equates 'random' as scientific as each day we find the reason for our once process we thought was 'random'

and I would not use wikipedia to prove anything as you may find I have written it there myself.

Quote from: There Is 'Design' In Nature, Biologist Argues http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080217143838.htm
In a Feb. 17, 2008 symposium at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in Boston,* Miller will argue that science itself, including evolutionary biology, is predicated on the idea of "design" -- the correlation of structure with function that lies at the heart of the molecular nature of life.
Miller is a cell biologist and the Royce Family Professor for Teaching Excellence at Brown.
Miller will argue that the scientific community must address the attractiveness of the "design" concept and make the case that science itself is based on the idea of design -- or the regularity of organization, function, and natural law that gives rise to the world in which we live.
He points out that structural and molecular biologists routinely speak of the design of proteins, signaling pathways, and cellular structures. He also notes that the human body bears the hallmarks of design, from the ball sockets that allows hips and shoulders to rotate to the "s" curve of the spine that allows for upright walking.
"There is, indeed, a design to life -- an evolutionary design," Miller said. "The structures in our bodies have changed over time, as have its functions. Scientists should embrace this concept of 'design,' and in so doing, claim for science the sense of orderly rationality in nature to which the anti-evolution movement has long appealed."
by the way I'm not speaking of a diety, that man called god you speak of and I wish others could understand that.

One Gene Found To Command Many Others To Build A Winghttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/04/010413083229.htm

'The Intelligent Genome,' by Adolf Heschl

Genes 'regulate' for a purpose and through a process we may not understand yet but not willy nilly and random without a reason, but usually with intent out of necessity for survival.

'Genes Know How to Network'http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2009/04/21-03.html?rss=1
not random but for a purpose

Genes know their left from their righthttp://www.nature.com/nrg/journal/v8/n9/full/nrg2194.html

Sometimes I think some scientists themselves think they are the only diety that can 'design' a gene for a specific purpose that all other gene variations could only happen randomly.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: echochartruse on 23/05/2010 20:49:29

I agree that some copying errors are probably completely random...

Quote from: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090623090157.htm
There’s no way for the RNA polymerase to ensure that the correct letter is always incorporated at the right spot. “Statistically, we would expect to see a hundred-fold more errors than we actually do, so we know that some error correction must be happening. Otherwise, many more proteins in our bodies would malfunction,” says Dr Cohen.

Biological experiments have shown that the RNA polymerase slides both forwards and backwards along the RNA sequence it has created. What’s more, it has miniature scissors that can then cut out the last few letters of RNA.

So how are errors corrected? Intelligent typesetters would remove the last few letters when they spot an error. The new model suggests how the backward sliding stalls when passing an error, so wrong letters can be snipped off and copying can resume.
bold mine.

'Various Species' Genes Evolve To Minimize Protein Production Errors...Their study also suggests that the cost of errors in protein production may lie in the malformed proteins themselves, rather than the loss of functional proteins. So now we know.....http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080724123220.htm

The team is now exploring other predictions of this surprising hypothesis, such as what specific chemical changes allow proteins to resist translation errors. "It's the tip of the iceberg," Drummond says.http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/10/051002115542.htm
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: echochartruse on 23/05/2010 22:29:02

Again, random mutation is one of the sources of variety in DNA that non-random natural selection can act upon.

example please...
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: BenV on 24/05/2010 07:55:02
It's the entire basis of genetic clocks.
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: echochartruse on 26/05/2010 19:54:41
It's the entire basis of genetic clocks.
I dont understand 'genetic clocks' can you give me an example of 'random mutation is one of the sources of variety in DNA that non-random natural selection can act upon'
Title: Could turtles be intelligently designed?
Post by: aanico74 on 01/09/2010 21:05:51
Intelligent design? It is possible. Through the process of evolution. Probably evolution is what we call Intelligent design rather than the specie itself.