Another Look at Darwin
Most of us were taught in school about Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and the origins of life. However, scientific research on complex biological systems has advanced so much in the last 50 years that it requires us to have another look at Darwin’s theory to see if it has stood the test of time. In particular, does modern research suggest another theory for the origins of life on earth?
Dr. Michael Behe is a biochemistry professor at Lehigh University who wrote a book titled “Darwin’s Black Box,” with sub-title, “The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution.” The National Review lists this book as one of the most important nonfiction works of the twentieth century. First edition 1996, second 2006.
The first edition aggravated many in the scientific community who cling to Darwin’s theory on the origins of life. On the other hand, many other scientists have been convicted by the book and those written subsequently by other like-minded scientists. One is by Dr. Stephen Meyer, former geophysicist and PhD from Oxford, who wrote “Signature in the Cell” with subtitle “DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design.” (2009) There are still others.
Microscopic Life
Behe presented a case for life on earth originating at the molecular level. He points out that Darwin did not have the benefit of seeing life through an electron microscope, which could reveal the amazing mechanisms at work within a cell. The complexity of life examined using super high-powered microscopy and the subsequent research in the field of biochemistry have made much of Darwin’s ideas untenable.
Darwin proposed that life evolved through random chance acting on natural selection. Behe presents numerous examples to show how the origin of life on earth could not have occurred as Darwin claimed. A few of these examples include cilia, blood clotting, the eye and eukaryotic cells. Plus, he provides a look outside of the microscopic world into the complex internal mechanisms within the bombardier beetle. Below is our simple summary of just these:
(NOTE: If the following examples look a bit “too heavy”, don’t give up. You can slide down to A Bug’s Life and keep going.)
- Cilium: A cilium is thin hair-like appendage to a cell that can beat like a whip. “For example, sperm uses cilia to swim. In contrast, the stationary cells that line the respiratory tract have several hundred cilia. The large number of cilia beat in synchrony to push mucus up to the throat for expulsion.” Only after the invention of the electron microscope was it found that cilia contain very complex structures, including an internal membrane-coated bundle of fibers, nexin linkers, and motor proteins, all set to work precisely together. “The cilium has to be positioned in the right place, oriented correctly, and turned on or off according to the needs of the cell.” All the parts are used together for one function: ciliary motion. Behe says the idea of the cilium forming by gradual evolutionary processes is virtually impossible.
- Blood clotting: Biochemists have found that blood clotting is a very complex, intricately woven system consisting of a score of interdependent protein parts. Blood clotting must be confined to the cut or the entire blood system of the animal might solidify, thus killing the creature. Therefore, clotting must occur only when and where it is required. Behe devotes several pages to this topic, but in the end notes that satisfactory evolutionary explanations have not been found.
- The eye: Here again, Behe devotes a lot of time to this topic. He shows how all the elements needed for vision could not have developed in Darwinian fashion. In summary, Behe says, “Each of the anatomical steps and structures that Darwin thought were so simple actually involve staggeringly complicated chemical processes that cannot be papered over with rhetoric.”
- Eukaryotic cells: The mechanisms at work within eukaryotic cells (which include all plant and animal cells, except bacteria) are like a miniature factory. They contain many different separate compartments in which different discrete tasks are performed along a production line. The nucleus contains DNA, one compartment produces the cells’ energy, while another processes proteins, and still another is a garbage disposal unit, and so forth. There are more than 20 different sections within these microscopic cells. Since all the coordinated pieces must be in place before the processes can work at all, Behe says it appears that the Darwinian model of random chance acting on natural selection falls flat.
A Bug’s Life
The bombardier beetle measures about half-inch in length, but it has an impressive defense system to ward off potential predators. It can squirt a boiling-hot solution at an enemy out of an aperture in its rear end. As Behe notes, the target then usually makes other plans for dinner. (Behe’s humor is found throughout the book despite much of its complexity.)
The defensive mechanism of the beetle uses chemistry and involves the interaction of several different body parts. (See video below.) When the beetle feels threatened, it squeezes muscles around a storage chamber while at the same time relaxing a sphincter muscle. This forces the chemicals into an explosion chamber where it mixes with enzyme catalysts, making the temperature rise to the boiling point and also creating a highly irritating compound that would ward off an attacker. The gas inside expands creating an explosion that shoots the mixture through its rear and directly at the enemy.
Behe notes that evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins’ attempt to describe how the bombardier beetle could have evolved by natural selection is absurd. He says, “…our Dawkins-esque tale of the bombardier beetle’s evolution can be filed alongside the story of the cow jumping over the moon.”
For a full and excellent explanation by Behe of why the bombardier beetle is an “irreducibly complex system” and, therefore, could not have occurred through evolutionary processes, read full details in his book “Darwin’s Black Box”, 2006 edition, pages 31-37,46-47. It also negates the idea that the beetle may have developed through evolutionary processes as suggested at the end of the video shown above.