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Origin of life

165 bytes removed, 19:36, August 22, 2025
#The problem of homochirality (see [[Chirality]])<ref>Sarfati, Jonathan, [http://creationontheweb.com/content/view/1719 Origin of life: the chirality problem], ''Journal of Creation'' 12(3):263–266, December 1998.</ref> refers to a fundamental puzzle in the origin of life, where essential biomolecules like amino acids and sugars are exclusively one "handedness" (enantiomer) in living cells (left handed amino acids [designated as "L-" such as in L-Lysine], and right handed sugars [designated as "D-" such as in D-glucose]). The problem is that laboratory experiments show that natural prebiotic chemistry produces equal amounts of both right and left handed forms (a racemic mixture) and this contaminates and inhibits any further synthesis, essentially killing synthesis of any useful molecules.<ref name="Tour" />
#Polymerization problem <ref>Sarfati, Jonathan, [http://creationontheweb.com/content/view/1791 Origin of life: the polymerization problem] ''Journal of Creation'' 12(3):281–284, December 1998.</ref>
#The very short lifespans of critical cellular molecules gives a very small window of opportunity for any syenthsis chemical synthesis in the wild is very short (hours and days at allbest, not thousands or millions of years). Synthetic chemist and National Academy of Engineering fellow James Tour argues that For example, when it comes to the spontaneous formation of the long, and complex molecules like RNA and proteins necessary for life is highly implausible under natural, prebiotic conditions. His study uses thermodynamic calculations to show that these molecules degrade rapidly in water, with a 600-unit RNA chain having a half-life of only about four hours.<ref>James Tour et al. "Thermodynamic Limitations on the Natural Emergence of Long Chain Molecules: Implications for Origin of Life" BioCosmos: New perspectives on the origin and evolution of life, vol. 5, no. 1, Sciendo, 2025, pp. 64-71. https://doi.org/10.2478/biocosmos-2025-0010</ref>
#''Chicken or the Egg problem regarding [[DNA]] and [[protein]]s'': John Horgan wrote: "Many investigators now consider nucleic acids to be much more plausible candidates for the first self-replicating [[molecule]]s. The work of [[James Watson|Watson]] and [[Francis Crick|Crick]] and others has shown that proteins are formed according to the instructions coded in DNA. But there is a hitch. DNA cannot do its work, including forming more DNA, without the help of catalytic proteins, or [[enzyme]]s. In short, proteins cannot form without DNA, but neither can DNA form without proteins. To those pondering the origin of life, it is a classic chicken-and-egg problem: Which came first, proteins or DNA?" - (John Horgan,[science writer], "In The Beginning...," ''[[Scientific American]]'', Vol. 264, No. 2, February 1991, pp.&nbsp;100–109, p.&nbsp;103)"<ref name="members.iinet.net.au"/>
#Complexity of the [[cell]]: [[Molecule|Molecular]] [[biology|biologist]] Michael Denton wrote regarding the complexity of the cell: "To grasp the reality of life as it has been revealed by [[molecular biology]], we must magnify a [[cell]] a thousand million times until it is twenty [[kilometer]]s in diameter and resembles a giant airship large enough to cover a great city like [[London]] or [[New York City|New York]]. What we would then see would be an object of unparalleled complexity and adaptive design. On the surface of the cell we would see millions of openings, like the port holes of a vast space ship, opening and closing to allow a continual stream of materials to flow in and out. If we were to enter one of these openings we would find ourselves in a world of supreme technology and bewildering complexity... Is it really credible that random processes could have constructed a reality, the smallest element of which-a functional [[protein]] or [[gene]] - is complex beyond our own creative capacities, a reality which is the very antithesis of chance, which excels in every sense anything produced by the intelligence of man?"<ref>Michael Denton, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, Burnett Books, London, 1985, pages 328 and 342</ref>
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