[00:00:04] Speaker A: ID the Future, a podcast about evolution and intelligent design.
[00:00:12] Speaker B: Welcome to ID the future. I'm your host, Andrew McDermott. Today, we're pleased to rebroadcast, in audio form, the latest episode in biochemist Michael Behe's Secrets of the Cell series. Launched in 2020, the video series explores the building blocks of life, an unseen world of genetic coding, fabulous integrated systems, and astonishing machines. This is not your typical biology class. Each episode goes on location with Bihi as he unpacks the secrets of the Cell with practical, modern visuals and easy to grasp examples. Now, you might be thinking, I'll just hop over to YouTube and watch the episode. Why would I just listen? Well, not so fast. Yes, the Secrets of the Cell series is available in video. And of course, video is supremely popular these days. There's an all you can eat feast of video entertainment at our fingertips. And the biggest social media platforms on the planet specialize in keeping eyeballs glued to little screens to watch untold numbers of videos.
But we may be so tuned into the visuals of a video that we miss important details that our ears might pick up. We might miss the forest for the trees, or even a specific tree for the forest. So I invite you to let your ears take center stage as you enjoy an audio presentation of Secrets of the Cell. The Mystery of Biological Information.
[00:01:45] Speaker C: What'S stored inside here is the most valuable product on planet Earth.
[00:01:53] Speaker D: And there's so much inside, you could.
[00:01:56] Speaker C: Never count all of it.
What's intriguing is that the product has no color, no odor.
Actually, it has no mass.
You might have guessed it.
[00:02:10] Speaker D: This is a data center, a massive repository of information.
[00:02:17] Speaker C: It's home to documents, videos, even military secrets. And this is just one of thousands.
[00:02:25] Speaker D: Of data centers located across the globe.
[00:02:29] Speaker C: As you can imagine, removing these sites could have a devastating effect on society as we know it.
The same is true in biology.
[00:02:40] Speaker D: Without the information found in DNA, all life would cease to exist.
[00:03:11] Speaker C: The unlocking of DNA has revealed information and discoveries that have forever changed our world.
We can explore our personal heritage, identify medical predispositions, and even solve crimes. But DNA is much more than a data resource. DNA is the main data source for the physical features of all life.
[00:03:39] Speaker D: In this episode, we'll be asking a few related questions. What exactly is information?
Why are incalculable amounts of it necessary for life? And lastly, where does it come from?
So let's get started.
[00:03:56] Speaker C: First, what the heck is information?
You you can think of the fundamental unit of information as one single simple decision.
Shall I flip the light switch on or not?
More complex decisions require more information processing.
Colossal tasks require thousands of decisions and enormous information management through spreadsheets, diagrams and instruction manuals.
Life also contains written instructions in DNA to build its structures.
We've covered DNA in previous episodes, but let's briefly review how it works.
Information in DNA is stored as a sequence of four chemicals. They're arranged like letters in a book. Billions of them that can be read and interpreted within DNA are segments called genes.
A gene is decoded instructions to make a single kind of protein.
A machine called RNA Polymerase copies a selected portion of DNA into messenger RNA. This is the key the digital blueprint for building a protein.
The mRNA then interacts with another machine called a ribosome. It reads the code in mRNAs and uses it to produce the specified proteins, the building blocks of life.
Ribosomes are universal machines because when they're given the right mRNA instructions, they can build any protein.
In some ways, it's like 3D printing. Using a lot of information, good programmers can design elaborate parts.
Your DNA has the information for manufacturing more than 20,000 different proteins. That can be arranged with other molecules to make about 200 different types of human cells. The cells are custom made to form the tissues that form each of your organs and systems. All this uses only a portion of the information in DNA.
[00:06:26] Speaker D: Fortunately, your DNA can store enormous amounts of data. In fact, it's the envy of every information technologist. Nothing humans have ever designed comes anywhere close to the storage capacity of DNA.
Which leads me to our second question why is so much information needed to sustain life?
[00:06:50] Speaker C: The first part of the answer lies in the interior of the cell where enormous amounts of information are constantly being exchanged.
Those precisely manufactured proteins fit perfectly to form complex structures. How complex?
Some proteins form machines. Highly sophisticated machines like this one ATP synthase. These elaborate rotary motors are harvesting energy to power your cells or the kinesin motor protein. Yes, it's walking as it transports cargo across the cell. These and many more exquisite machines are operating right now in cells in every part of your body.
Now let's move to the exterior where we'll see that each cell type is part of a massive collaboration of trillions of cells.
Individual cells communicate with the cells next to them, passing vital information back and forth.
But information also flows between cells in entirely different parts of the body through chemical and electrical signals.
These data networks are what inform your many interconnected organs and systems.
[00:08:15] Speaker D: What's more, in much of life, as they say, timing is everything. A whole lot depends on the right information in your DNA being activated at the right time.
[00:08:29] Speaker C: For example, when you were a few months old, your DNA was activated with instructions for growing teeth.
Years later, instructions were switched on for a second set of teeth.
Then, when the full set came in, the code for teeth was switched off.
The genetic program for elephants is different. They get the go code for six to seven sets of teeth before it's finally switched off.
So how are these on off switches flipped in DNA?
Here's the most common way. This is one of those chemical signals we showed earlier. Its job is to connect with a control protein and switch it on.
The protein can now switch on a control element which resides near genes or in spaces between them. Given the go code, RNA polymerase is enabled. The genetic instructions are copied and mRNA delivers them to make the needed proteins.
Your cells are constantly receiving messages to switch specific genes on and off. And it's remarkable how cells adjust to different situations.
For example, when resources are scarce, sometimes an energy saving mode can be switched on.
Warning of predators prompts the defense mode. Cells can even play the noble role of self sacrifice to benefit the common good.
And in the case of stem cells, when asked, they can transform into a different type of cell.
[00:10:14] Speaker D: Given all the processing we see in the cell, it's easy to understand why.
[00:10:18] Speaker C: Gigantic loads of information are required for life.
[00:10:22] Speaker D: But how much information are we talking about?
[00:10:27] Speaker C: The four chemicals in DNA come in pairs a with T and G with C. The sequence spells out the information in DNA.
The full sequence contains about 3 billion base pairs.
In book form, that would be about a million pages. DNA is sometimes referred to as the instruction manual for life.
That would be a pretty hefty manual.
But as a biologist, it's fun to imagine such a book. I have a manual for my car. What if we could assemble a manual for biological parts?
In no case does science yet have a complete description of all the information needed to build even one cell, let alone more complex biological objects.
But using what we know about information, imagine the directions for building an organ.
[00:11:31] Speaker D: A manual for building, let's say, the human eye.
[00:11:36] Speaker C: Perhaps one of the most complicated things that exists.
That one's probably a little too ambitious.
How about the heart? It has way fewer parts. Electronics? Hydraulics? Maybe another episode?
Something a little less complicated.
Ah. How about bones? That looks doable.
[00:12:01] Speaker D: Here's a femur your thigh bone. Let's give it a try.
How to build a bone.
[00:12:14] Speaker C: Of course, bone growth begins in the womb. Step one we have designated cells that are instructed to form not bone, but soft cartilage. Next, minerals are added to harden portions, but not all of the bone.
Now we add superstructures. These are critical because muscles and tendons need secure points of attachment.
Then we move on to a newborn. At this stage of life, the instructions become tricky. Your femur must remain strong, but it also has to grow much longer.
The ends of the bone need to remain adjustable.
These growth plates, which are still flexible cartilage, enable it to elongate.
Now for the section of our manual that becomes particularly complex.
The femur has to grow in specific proportions.
Remember, the muscle attachment sites are critical. Their placement relative to each end must remain in the proper ratio.
Each growth plate needs to be informed independently so it can know when and how much to grow.
Plus, at times, some of the superstructures will have to drift to a new position.
All this is necessary to keep the bone growth in sync with the muscle growth.
As a result, a girl can be just as agile at age seven as a girl at 17.
It sometime between the ages of 17 and 25. Full skeletal maturity is reached and there's no further growth in the length of the bone. But many more instructions remain.
We need the bone cells to remain active for the rest of the owner's life.
A fracture or break means new bone cells must be produced to make the repair.
And if the bone is routinely supporting heavy loads, it will need to grow wider and denser for added support.
Now, what we haven't covered yet is the interior where we have the dense network of blood vessels and the spongy bone marrow which produces the components of blood.
Of course, the femur is just one of more than 200 bones in your body. The cells in each bone have their own set of instructions. Why? Because your bones develop in different ways and at different times.
Finally, the skeletal system coordinates with our many other systems. We already saw the muscular system. Your body's circulatory system receives its red blood cells from the bone marrow and your immune system uses the vital white blood cells which are also produced in the bone marrow. There are other examples, but the last one I'll mention is your nervous system, which is obviously critical to the transmission of information.
It, too, is in constant conversation with the bones in your skeletal system.
[00:15:50] Speaker D: So building even a seemingly simple bone is immensely more complicated than you might think.
In fact, many consider the femur a marvel of engineering. The coordinated three dimensional plans clearly show foresight with an end goal of an optimized bone interconnected with an optimized system.
[00:16:12] Speaker C: Again, each cell knows its role in the process of growing and shaping the femur to exact specifications in specific locations on a prearranged timetable with updated instructions over its entire life.
But the same can be said for your other organs where every cell is purposefully arranged according to a welllaid plan.
[00:16:42] Speaker D: A welllaid Plan when you look at DNA, this remarkable molecule able to store and retrieve information, an obvious question comes up where did it come from?
[00:16:59] Speaker C: For decades, scientists have discussed when and how the source code of life might have begun in the distant past. Did chemicals randomly organize over time into higher forms of complexity?
After all, we see examples in nature where chemical reactions sometimes grow orderly and beautiful shapes.
But in the world of biology, we know that working structures are possible only through the specific code that determines their form and function, not from randomly arranged chemicals.
And as for the concept that DNA might have developed gradually in small steps. There's the obvious issue of the origin of proteins.
We know that without the instructions from DNA, it's impossible to make proteins in a cell. At the same time, DNA instructions can't be accessed without proteins. That stops this chicken and egg speculation in its tracks.
Instead, we know that an item that is well designed implies a skilled designer.
So where did all this information come from?
The evidence does not point to happenstance.
[00:18:27] Speaker D: Source code with the sophistication we've been talking about has never been known to.
[00:18:32] Speaker C: Arise without a programmer.
[00:18:35] Speaker D: An intelligent agent that is the designer and supplier of the information that is the foundation of all life.
You.
[00:19:04] Speaker B: That was episode eight of michael Behee's secrets of the cell series on the mystery of biological information.
Watch all eight episodes of Secrets of the cell at behee's website. Michaelbeehy.com. That's michaelbeehy.com. And to dive deeper into the wonders of the cell and how it refutes the standard evolutionary story, get a copy of behee's book darwin devolves the new science about DNA that challenges evolution. If you enjoy the content, you hear on ID. The future forward an episode to a friend and consider leaving a written review at apple podcasts.
Until next time. I am Andrew McDermott for Idthefuture. Thanks for listening.
[00:19:50] Speaker A: Visit
[email protected] and intelligentdesign.org. This program is copyright Discovery Institute and recorded by its center for science and culture.
