Tag: Evolution

DNA Energy Code?

A recent article out of the Quarterly Review of BioPhysics, a peer reviewed journal out of the UK, made a startling and outrageous claim. According to the paper, the genetic code evolved, not always toward functionality, but towards thermodynamic stability, which just happened to coincide with functionality in many cases. The paper makes claims that are at odds with typical evolutionary explanations as well as some very interesting claims about thermodynamics applied to genetics. Lets have a look at this article and see what we can learn.

Effective Population Size and Creation

Today, perhaps the most well-known species that is falling off the extinction cliff is the cheetah. Scientists know that Cheetah viability is dropping, litter size is shrinking, and deformities are increasing. As Kelly (2001) pointed out, the effective population size in cheetahs is a mere fifteen percent of the actual population size, far below what is acceptable to maintain a species. The cheetah will go extinct and nothing can be done to prevent it.

Minimal Genomes

What relevance does the question of a minimal genome have to the creation/evolution debate? Consider the original creation. There would have been no parasites or diseases. In the post-fall world, organisms had to adapt to these lifestyles. One way they could do that is ejecting genes that they no longer needed. Hence essentially minimizing their genome. This is why I expect that no universal minimal genome will ever be found. Each kind requires unique genes to accomplish its various tasks.