DNA - Divine message
Considers the complexity behind everything, behind every animals or vegetable. As advanced as technology has become, it is still far from being able to emulate the wonders of nature's architecture. Science has made great strides in recent years deciphering the enigma of DNA, but what secrets still remind hidden?
Each and every one of the vast process necessary to every living cell was imprinted, at some moment in history, into unique, marvelous, and exquisitely complex molecule.
Whether this was due-as some suggest-to eons of trial and error or through careful; design, divine in origin, modern geneticists still remained astonished at this mechanism.
There is an ongoing investigation to probe the enigma hidden within the universe or our biology: Deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA.
Molecule of the DNA contain an overwhelming amount of information. If we were to dedicate ourself to transcribing all the information necessary for life contained within these molecules, we could easily filled a small library with an encyclopedia of a thousands tomes.
Unwind each thread of DNA in our body, lay them out in a chain, and the last molecules would find itself in a very cold place-at a distant 500,000 times further from the Earth to he moon!
And all this is, achieved through a few organic compounds or "nucleotides" arranged alternately in the molecule, can produce a complete and unique body with just four-letter alphabet.
A Genuine Human AlphabetIn the mid-1970s, scientist developed the sequence for the chemical letters in DNA. In the 1990, the National Institute of Health, the Department of Energy, and others set about to sequence the more than 3 billion letters found in the human genome to determine the complete set of DNA in the Human Genome Project, was completed in 2003.
These findings continue to bring numerous surprises to scientist around the world.
Many contemporary investigators studying the genome language believe that the sophistication of this complex code provides tangential proof for the existence of God. While others, working from the same data, insist the language reveals an indisputable argument that all living beings proceed from a common ancestor.
In recent years, many molecular biologist have tried to settle this debate, collaborating with cryptologist, statisticians, and linguists among other professions, striving to find the hidden messages in this grand molecule.
As a result, not only has our understanding and knowledge of the code been enriched, but in 2006 a second code was discovered superimposed on the first.
Molecular biologist have discovered that the DNA code and human language are not only comparable; they follow an identical pattern.
Computer programs specialized to obtain information through a process of dividing the genome sequence into millions of parts, distinguished the mini-sequences as "words" of a big encyclopedia.
Through subjecting these "word" to Zipf's Law, know as linguistics as the governing principle behind totality if human languages (from Chinese to English), scientists were dumb founded to discover that the genetic code followed the same Law.
Aipf's Law states that in any test, be it a book or an articles, the most repeated word will appear many times more than the second most repeated word , which itself will be repeated many times more than the third most repeated, and so on successively.
The genetic code appears to follow the same law, which for many is the greatest indication of a higher intelligence.
And just imagine: If a second code has been found in this already complex system at the infancy of mankind's genetic cartography, could there be other languages still hidden inside the genetic map?
DNA "Junk"While mankind has managed to chart the human genome, very little of this vast molecule is completely understood.
Scientist has discovered that the number of active genes in our species, and in many others as equally complex, is simply absurd. Nearly 96 percent or our whole genome is at first glance useless- not engaging in activities of any perceivable importance to the cell.
Because it appears identical in all organism, some scientist believe that this significant genetic portion acts as a kind of historic library-linking us with all other species on the planet, including fungus, bacteria, and the extinct dinosaurs. As the :junk: does not appears to play a vital role in our cellular functions, this camp of researchers assets that an overwhelming portions of our DNA serves merely to demonstrate an evolution that took place over millions of years.
but such genetic similarity (verified in all species) could actually be a deceptive illusion on the path to interpreting the true origin of DNA. In fact, scientist have already discovered that the languages stored in this not-yet-understood segment could in fact play an important role in the life of the organism, connecting it to a history and origin not yet known.
official members of the Human Genome Project declared in January 2007 that the DNA junk could not have originated on this Earth through explainable chemical process. Likewise, molecular biologist Francis Crick, co -discover of the double-helix structure of the DNA molecule in 1953, noted that while there were no evolutionary "indicators" more simple than the DNA chain, the molecule simply seemed to have materialized out of nothing overnight.
The Molecule of Life: an Unfathomable Technology
Placed beside the marvel of DNA, the fruits obtained through human technology are considerably less stunning. From our hunter-gatherer ancestors to today, humanity has developed the capacity to build ever taller skyscrapers, design supersonic aircraft, send satellite into space, and construct supercomputers. But despite our phenomenal accomplishments, scientist has yet to create anything that remotely compare with the complexity of a cell.
The basic unit of all organisms is infinitely more intricate than any supercomputer, yet the idea that a DNA molecule could spontaneously evolve from simple primordial components in the remote past is one that many scientist doggedly insist upon.
This theory faces astounding statistical odds given that the molecular combinations which could have given rse to the simplest bacteria in prehistoric conditions are one in a billion-a figure that far surpasses what statistician consider a practical impossibility.
Is the molecule architecture achieved in a DNA molecule-containing all the information necessary for a being to grow , reproduce, eat, metabolize, and interact with others-due to the evolutionary processes, the divine creation of a superior intelligence, or even as some suggests, the result of manipulation by advanced extra-terrestrials?
While mankind has managed to draw a map of this tiny universe, the meanings and purposes behind its various components still remain an elusive mystery.
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