Biblical Genetics

Biblical Genetics

By Dr. Robert CarterScienceReligion & SpiritualityChristianityLife Sciences
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Biblical Genetics episodes

  • The fragility of DNA is the bane of Darwinism

    DNA can only withstand so much mutation and breakage before it breaks down. An amazing system of repair enzymes keeps decay in check, mostly. Yet, without the crazy complex system of DNA maintenance and repair, life cannot exist, which brings up questions of how we got here.

    Location: Loop Road Scenic Drive, Big Cypress National Preserve, South Florida, USA

    Notes and links:

    • Salisbury DF, Newly discovered DNA repair mechanism, 5 Oct 2010, sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101004112156.htm.
    • Rubinson EH et al. 2010. An unprecedented nucleic acid capture mechanism for excision of DNA damage. Nature, 2010; DOI: 10.1038/nature09428.
    • Sarfati DM. DNA and bone cells found in dinosaur bone, 23 April 2020, creation.com/dino-dna-bone-cells.
    • Chaterjee N, Walker GC. 2017. Mechanisms of DNA damage, repair and mutagenesis. Environ Mol Mutagen. 58(5):235–263; ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5474181/.

      • Thumbnail: Melani Sosa via Unsplash.com

      18 min
    • ATP Drives Its Own Creation: the spaghettification of irreducible complexity

      Notes and links:

      • Journal of Creation subscription page
      • The ATP synthase motor
      • The ‘one gene–one enzyme’ hypothesis, Beadle and Tatum, 1941
      • What on earth is a ‘gene’? Slicing and dicing the genome, Biblical Genetics episode 6
      • The Genome is Even More Complicated than we Imagined!, Biblical Genetics episode 5
      • Truman, R., The surprisingly complex tRNA subsystem: part 1–generation and maturation, Journal of Creation 34(3):80–86, 2020.
      • Truman, R., The surprisingly complex tRNA subsystem: part 2–biochemical modifications, Journal of Creation 34(3):87–94, 2020.
      • Machnicka, M.A. et al. 2013. MODOMICS: a database of RNA modification pathways—2013 update, Nucleic Acids Research 41(Database issue):D262–D267; ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3531130.
      • Review of Michael Behe’s The Edge of Evolution
        • 31 min
      • Modern Humans from Adam and Eve? You Bet!

        The idea is that all humans came from a first couple. Many people don’t think this is possible, but Dr C demolishes one common argument against Adam and Eve: the thought that you can’t get millions of rare variations in the genome if you start with just two people a few thousand years ago. In fact, not only are Adam and Eve an excellent fit for the real-world data, but computer modeling tells us the biblical scenario is a better fit to the data than the evolutionary one.

        Links:

        • Sanford J, Carter R, Brewer W, Baumgardner J, Potter B, and Potter J. 2018. Adam and Eve, designed diversity, and allele frequencies. In Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Creationism, ed. J.H. Whitmore, pp. 200–216. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Creation Science Fellowship. An audio recording of this presentation is also available.
        • The Non-Mythical Adam and Eve! Refuting errors by Francis Collins and BioLogos.
        • Carter RW. 2019. A successful decade for ‘Mendel’s Accountant’, Journal of Creation 33(2):51–56.
        • 1000 Genomes Project
          • 23 min
        • Origin of Life Smackdown

          Origin-of-life research got a boost with the recent publication of a massive new computer program that was designed to model early chemical evolution. At least, that’s what the headlines say. Dr C explains that things are only getting worse for the evolutionary story of how life arose and how these problems tie into the study of genetics.

          Location: Pickett’s Mill Battlefield State Historic Site, Dallas, GA.

          Links:

          • Tan, C. and Stadler, R., 2020. The Stairway to Life: an origin-of-life reality check, available on Creation.com. Remember to add “I love Biblical Genetics” to the comment section on your order!
          • Evolution’s Achilles’ Heels (book and documentary), available on Creation.com. Ditto about the comment!
          • The main paper being discussed: Wolos A, et al. 2020. Synthetic connectivity, emergence, and self-regeneration in the network of prebiotic chemistry, Nature 369(6511):eaaw1955.
          • Popular-level summary from MSN.com: Starr, M. 2020. A New Chemical ‘Tree of The Origins of Life’ Reveals Our Possible Molecular Evolution.
          • Video: New “Allchemy” Software Helps Chart Chemical Origins of Life
          • Uracil synthesis link: DeGraw, J. 1990. Synthesis and antifolate properties of 10-alkyl-5,10-dideaza analogs of methotrexate and tetrahydrofolic acid, J Med Chem 33:673–677.
          • Grigg, R. 2012. Did Darwin become a Christian before he died? on Creation.com. There is also an audio version of this article available.
          • Jacob’s Livestock Breeding Experiment, Biblical Genetics (episode 22) July 1, 2020.
          • You can copy and paste these quotes into any search engine to find the proper reference or the larger context:
            • Letter from Darwin to Joseph Hooker in 1863: “But I have long regretted that I truckled to public opinion & used Pentateuchal term of creation, by which I really meant ‘appeared’ by some wholly unknown process.—It is mere rubbish thinking, at present, of origin of life; one might as well think of origin of matter.”
            • Darwin’s Origin of Species last page: “Authors of the highest eminence seem to be fully satisfied with the view that each species has been independently created. To my mind it accords better with what we know of the laws impressed on matter by the Creator, that the production and extinction of the past and present inhabitants of the world should have been due to secondary causes, like those determining the birth and death of the individual.”
            • Darwin’s Origin of Species last sentence: “There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”
            • Darwin’s ‘warm little pond’ quote in another letter to Joseph Hooker, 1871: “But if (and oh what a big if) we could conceive in some warm little pond with all sort of ammonia and phosphoric salts,—light, heat, electricity present, that a protein compound was chemically formed, ready to undergo still more complex changes, at the present such matter would be instantly devoured, or absorbed, which would not have been the case before living creatures were formed”
              • 31 min
            • Epigenetics vs Darwin

              Epigenetics deals with those things that control which genes are turned on and off, and at what time, in the cell. It is a serious challenge to the neo-Darwinian idea that evolution occurs via a simple mutation + selection scenario.

              Location: Sweetwater Creek State Park, Douglasville, GA

              Links:

              • Darwin’s Lamarckism vindicated?
              • Genetic Diversity on Noah’s Ark
              • Sciamenna, I. et al. The active role of spermatozoa in transgenerational inheritance. Proc. R. Soc. B 286:20191263, 2019; http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.1263.
              • Chen, Q. et al. Epigenetic inheritance of acquired traits through sperm RNAs and sperm RNA modification, Nature Reviews Genetics 17:733–743, 2016; https://www.nature.com/articles/nrg.2016.106
              • Sabour, D and Schöler, H.R., Reprogramming and the mammalian germline: the Weismann barrier revisited, Current Opinion in Cell Biology 24(6):716-723, 2012; pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22947493/
              • CMI’s Question Evolution campaign, info, articles, and merch
                • 17 min
              • Natural Selection in Paradise

                Natural selection is a controversial topic both among creationists and evolutionists and within creationism. No, it is not ‘proof’ of evolution, and yes it is a real phenomenon. But it was also operational in the world before Adam fell and sin and death entered the world. There are several reasons for this, as I detail in this video and the associated article.

                Filming location: Etowah Indian Mounds State Historic Site (Cartersville, GA)

                Links and notes:

                • Main article on Creation.com: Natural Selection in Paradise
                • The Heavenly state, the New Earth
                • Front loaded information? See Terborg, P., Evidence for the design of life: part 2—Baranomes, Journal of Creation 22(3):68–76, 2008.
                • Information article 1: Carter, R.W., Can mutations create new information? Journal of Creation 25(2):95–98, 2011.
                • Information article 2: Carter, R., Can biologically active sequences come from random DNA? Journal of Creation 31(3):82–89, 2017.
                • Retrotransposons
                • Brain cells: Baillie, J.K., et al., Somatic retrotransposition alters the genetic landscape of the human brain, Nature 479:534-537, 2011.
                • Episode 8: What on earth is a ‘gene’? Slicing and dicing the genome.
                • What does the Bible call “alive”? See Nephesh chayyāh
                • Can bunny rabbits be saved? (No, of course not. Read the article!)
                  • 16 min
                • How COVID-19 Testing Works

                  There are three different COVID-19 tests in use today, with several variations of each on the market. What, exactly, do they do? How accurate are they? What can they tell us about this virus? Dr. C goes into the details, concluding that education is the best defense against misinformation.

                  Links:

                  • COVID-19 antibody testing (MayoClinic.org)
                  • Antibody Tests for the Coronavirus (ScienceMag.org)
                  • Explained: how a covid-19 serology test works and obstacles to its use (ResearchAmerica.org)
                  • Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) Fact Sheet (Genome.gov)
                  • Coronavirus antigen tests: quick and cheap, but too often wrong? (ScienceMag.org)
                  • COVID-19 RT-PCR test details (FDA.gov)
                  • Your Coronavirus Test Is Positive. Maybe It Shouldn’t Be. (New York Times)
                  • Reverse Transcriptase (Wikipedia)
                  • Oops: Coronavirus testing at Boston lab suspended after nearly 400 false positives
                  • What on earth is a ‘gene’? Slicing and dicing the genome. Biblical Genetics, episode 8, 31 Mar 2020
                  • Proverbs 25:2

                    • Intro Music by Xihcsr

                    Intro Graphics by MattWalkerVideo

                    24 min
                  • Angelic DNA! Wait, what?

                    There is a mysterious passage in Genesis chapter 6 about the “sons of God” having children with the “daughters of men”. Scholars argue about what this means, and you can find all sorts of views on the subject in the public area. Some say the sons of God are human, some say they were fallen angels, some say they were aliens. Some say the “nepilim” that resulted were giants, some say they were kings, some say they were Neanderthals. Dr C discusses the genetic implications of the ideas. Was “nephilim” DNA on the Ark? Is it in modern humans?

                    Links:

                    • Who were the ‘sons of God’ in Genesis 6?
                    • How old was Cain when he killed Able?
                    • Are Neanderthals pre-Flood people?

                      • Intro Music by Xihcsr

                      Intro Graphics by MattWalkerVideo

                      16 min
                    • Pandemics vs Entropy

                      Pandemic viruses are deadly, but over time they should weaken as they pick up mutations. Will this happen with the pandemic coronavirus? We can only hope. But has it ever happen before? Yes, between 1917 and 2009, the human H1N1 virus picked up thousands of mutations and eventually went extinct (twice). Yet if this virus does not get us, something else will! How does this affect our view of eternity?

                      Links

                      • Genetic entropy information
                      • Genetic Entropy and the Mystery of the Genome (available on Creation.com)
                      • Carter RW, Sanford, JC (2012) A new look at an old virus: mutation accumulation in the human H1N1 influenza virus since 1918. Theoretical Biology and Medical Modelling 9:42 | doi:10.1186/1742-4682-9-42.
                      • Carter RW, More evidence for the reality of genetic entropy, Journal of Creation 28(1):16–17, 2014.
                      • Carter RW, More evidence for the reality of genetic entropy—update, Journal of Creation 33(1):3–4, 2019.
                      • Mendel’s Accountant evolution simulation software
                      • The 1917 “Spanish flu” may have started in China
                      • The Gospel of John on Bible Gateway.com, English Standard Version

                        • Intro Music by Xihcsr

                        Intro Graphics by MattWalkerVideo

                        Additional imagery from Pixabay.com (and, no, I don’t know what the words in German mean)

                         

                        19 min
                      • The octopus is from Mars, and other stories

                        There are certain things in genetics that are truly shocking. Complexity (in this case, of the octopus genome), hybridization between species that are not in any way similar, ancient genetic connections between the Polynesians and the South Americans, and the discovery of massive cassettes of DNA that cause huge changes in organisms–without natural selection or mutation driving the changes–are all new ideas that are amazing and fun to learn about. Some of these are hard to deal with in evolutionary theory. Yet, they fit beautifully into a creation context.

                        Links:

                        Octopus

                        • Yong E, Octopuses do something really strange to their genes (The Atlantic, April 6, 2017)
                        • Sarfati J, Loving God with all your mind: logic and creation (Journal of Creation, 1998)

                          • Paddlefish/sturgeon

                          • Scientists Accidentally Bred the Fish Version of a Liger (NY Times, 2020)
                          • Káldy et al. Hybridization of Russian Sturgeon (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii, Brandt and Ratzeberg, 1833) and American Paddlefish (Polyodon spathula, Walbaum 1792) and Evaluation of Their Progeny (Genes 11:7, 2020)
                          • Batten D, Ligers and wholphins? What next? (Creation, 2000)

                            • Pacific Islands share DNA with South America

                            • Wade L Polynesians, Native Americans met and mingled long ago (Science, 2020)
                            • Skoglund P, et al., Ancient Genomics and the Peopling of the Southwest Pacific (Nature, 2016)

                              • Hemizygosity

                              • Terborg, P. The hemizygosity hypothesis—a novel genetic paradigm for baranomes (Journal of Creation, 2020)
                              • Todesco et al. Massive haplotypes underlie ecotypic differentiation in sunflowers (Nature, 2020)

                                •  

                                Intro Music by Xihcsr

                                Intro Graphics by MattWalkerVideo

                                23 min

                              About Biblical Genetics

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                              Biblical Genetics is a vlog/podcast by Dr. Robert Carter. His posts explore modern genetics through the lens of biblical history, and vice versa.