33 min
Junk DNA Creation Science Podcast - Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network
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- Education
Junk DNA and EpiGenetics Episode 24 with Dr. Jay Wile
What is Junk DNA and how does the study in epigenetics show that scientists are still confounded as a creator God is definitely evident. Special guest, Dr. Jay Wile shares his expertise!
Visit Dr. Jay Wile, who has a Ph.D. in nuclear chemistry and he's also the author of several different science series. Visit his website.
Thanks to our Sponsor, The Star Movie now out on DVD!
Experience The Star again December 7 and 8 in select theaters! Back by popular demand, you and your family can celebrate the true meaning behind the season. Be sure to check out all of the great resources for your family to use this holiday season! There are discussion guides, along with tons of FREE downloadable activities! Don’t wait, get your tickets today!
Find a theater near you at thestarmovie-tickets.com
What is Junk DNA?
For years, since the early seventies, junk DNA has been a staple of evolutionary thinking. Back in the 70s, we didn't know a lot about DNA. The only stuff we really knew about DNA was parts of DNA contain these recipes for the cells. And it tells the cells how to make a particular kind of chemical called a protein. And that those recipes make up about 2% of DNA. And as far as we knew back the other 98% must be just useless junk. Evolution has had a ready explanation for why there's junk DNA because after all, evolution is driven by mutations and mutations are random. They tend to destroy information much more than produced new information.
So if I've got a whole bunch of mutations, they're mostly going to be degrading DNA. They're not going to be improving it. So there must be a lot of DNA that got degraded from these mutations. But of course, the organism has to carry it along anyway. So the higher evolved an organism is the more junk DNA it should have. And so it's not surprising according to evolutionists that 98% of the human genome is junk because we're a very highly evolved species. Evolution had to make a lot of mistakes before it made us. And so a lot of those mistakes are reflected in the junk DNA. And that was a real popular view. Eventually, junk DNA became an engine for evolution because initially, evolution thought is that if you have a protein, you have a gene and a mutation occurs, maybe that mutation can make it a little better.
And if a series of mutations over a long period of time can take one gene and turn it into a completely new gene over time, evolution has found, well, the biochemical data doesn't support that. We don't see lots of little steps in genes and it's extremely hard to understand how I can take a gene that the organism needs and mutate it to into something else and lose what it was originally coded for. So the thought was, well, if I've got all this junk DNA lying around, it's just free to mutate, it's not going to affect anything. And magical new genes can come out of that junk DNA. And by the early nineties, it was thought that the vast majority of evolution comes from this junk DNA.
Computer Junk DNA Simulations
A computer program called Avida is sort of the gold standard in computer simulations of evolution. In order for Avida to get evolution to happen at all, 85% of the genome of these organisms has to be junk because that's where all the good stuff is coming from. Then a problem occurred. If the junk isn't being used, then it's free to mutate and eventually you'll get something wonderful, right? In theory,
Junk DNA and EpiGenetics Episode 24 with Dr. Jay Wile
What is Junk DNA and how does the study in epigenetics show that scientists are still confounded as a creator God is definitely evident. Special guest, Dr. Jay Wile shares his expertise!
Visit Dr. Jay Wile, who has a Ph.D. in nuclear chemistry and he's also the author of several different science series. Visit his website.
Thanks to our Sponsor, The Star Movie now out on DVD!
Experience The Star again December 7 and 8 in select theaters! Back by popular demand, you and your family can celebrate the true meaning behind the season. Be sure to check out all of the great resources for your family to use this holiday season! There are discussion guides, along with tons of FREE downloadable activities! Don’t wait, get your tickets today!
Find a theater near you at thestarmovie-tickets.com
What is Junk DNA?
For years, since the early seventies, junk DNA has been a staple of evolutionary thinking. Back in the 70s, we didn't know a lot about DNA. The only stuff we really knew about DNA was parts of DNA contain these recipes for the cells. And it tells the cells how to make a particular kind of chemical called a protein. And that those recipes make up about 2% of DNA. And as far as we knew back the other 98% must be just useless junk. Evolution has had a ready explanation for why there's junk DNA because after all, evolution is driven by mutations and mutations are random. They tend to destroy information much more than produced new information.
So if I've got a whole bunch of mutations, they're mostly going to be degrading DNA. They're not going to be improving it. So there must be a lot of DNA that got degraded from these mutations. But of course, the organism has to carry it along anyway. So the higher evolved an organism is the more junk DNA it should have. And so it's not surprising according to evolutionists that 98% of the human genome is junk because we're a very highly evolved species. Evolution had to make a lot of mistakes before it made us. And so a lot of those mistakes are reflected in the junk DNA. And that was a real popular view. Eventually, junk DNA became an engine for evolution because initially, evolution thought is that if you have a protein, you have a gene and a mutation occurs, maybe that mutation can make it a little better.
And if a series of mutations over a long period of time can take one gene and turn it into a completely new gene over time, evolution has found, well, the biochemical data doesn't support that. We don't see lots of little steps in genes and it's extremely hard to understand how I can take a gene that the organism needs and mutate it to into something else and lose what it was originally coded for. So the thought was, well, if I've got all this junk DNA lying around, it's just free to mutate, it's not going to affect anything. And magical new genes can come out of that junk DNA. And by the early nineties, it was thought that the vast majority of evolution comes from this junk DNA.
Computer Junk DNA Simulations
A computer program called Avida is sort of the gold standard in computer simulations of evolution. In order for Avida to get evolution to happen at all, 85% of the genome of these organisms has to be junk because that's where all the good stuff is coming from. Then a problem occurred. If the junk isn't being used, then it's free to mutate and eventually you'll get something wonderful, right? In theory,
33 min