How did life begin on Earth ?

1. How did life begin on Earth ? The Bible teaches that God created all life on earth. But evolution teaches that life started by a purely natural process. What does the scientific evidence tell us ?

2. Achievements of Science • Physics • Law of Gravity (Newton) • Law of Electromagnetism (Maxwell) • Structure of the atom (Bohr, and others) • Chemistry • Periodic table – chemical properties • Organic chemistry • Molecular-biology • DNA structure • Cell chemistry • How does science discover these truths ???

3. How science discovers the truth • Science tries to find explanations for things we can observe • Scientific method: • Observe and gather information • Propose a theory (a “good” guess) • Devise experiments to test the theory • See if results of experiments check out with the theory • If not, change theory and try again • If so, theory becomes a “law”

4. Example:

5. How life began: Theory of Evolution • Science has studied the question “How did life begin on earth” • Science has learn a lot about “what living organisms are made of” and “how living organisms work” in Biology and Chemistry • But science has not yet discovered how life began... Science is still guessing... • The “scientific” theory (guess) on how life begin is called “Theory of Evolution”

6. MSNBC Poll on Evolution (Jan 2003) What do you think of the evidence regarding evolutionary theory? • The evidence is so strong that the theory is beyond doubt.   56% • The evidence is not sufficient to support the theory.   28% • Neither of the above.   16% • Poll audience…

7. So is Evolution a proven theory ??? • A recent PBS TV series on Evolution claims that: • All known scientific evidence support evolution • Virtually every reputable scientist in the world support evolution • School text books on evolution all proclaim that “Evolution is a proven fact” • Many people who once believed that God created the world turned away from God after they learned about the Theory of Evolution... (anyone here ?)

8. Evolution is NOT a proven theory • Immediately after the PBS TV series, 100 scientists (from well-known universities like MIT, Yale, Emory, etc) published a 2-page ad in the newspaper “The Weekly Standard”: • Public TV programs, education policy statements, and science textbooks have asserted that Theory of Evolutionfully explainsthe complexity of living things. The public has been assured, most recently by spokespersons for PBS's Evolution series, that "all known scientific evidence support evolution" as does "virtually every reputable scientist in the world.” -----The following scientistsDISPUTE the first claimandstand as LIVING TESTIMONY in contradiction to the second..(followed by the names of these 100 scientists)

9. Before we discuss Evolution • Before I can talk about Evolution, I need to explain what living things are made of... • I have tried to keep things as simple as possible, but… • If something is unclear, please stop me anytime and ask questions !!!

10. What are living things made of ? Cell 0.01 mm

11. Structure of a living cell • We now know the cell is extremely complex: • In Darwin days, they thought the cell was simply a blob, like “dough” (bad microscopes)

12. What is a cell made of ? Amino-acid molecule Cell Millions of protein molecules Chain of 100’s of amino-acid molecules

13. Amino-acids: building blocks of life • 20 differentamino-acid molecules in cells: • Each protein molecule is made of different combinations of amino-acids: • Q: How many different protein molecules ? Example protein molecule: Another example:

14. Protein molecules used in cells • There can beinfinitely many different protein molecules • Analogy: • 10 digits (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) • Each number is made of different combination of 10 digits (123, 27632, 67, …) • We can make up infinite many different numbers • Living cells use over thousands of different kinds of protein molecules

15. What do you need to do to make life ? Lots and lots and lots of different kinds of amino-acid molecules 1 Cell Millions of protein molecules Lots and lots of diff kinds of protein molecules

16. What do you need to do to make life ? • Make billions of amino-acid molecules (of different kinds) Amino-acid molecules come in 2 flavors: left handed and right-handed. Life only use left-handed molecules

17. What do you need to do to make life ? • Pick the right kinds of amino-acid molecules in the right order to make millions of protein molecules Put in the right order ! Pick only left-handed ones ! Some protein molecules have over 1000 amino-acids !

18. What do you need to do to make life ? • Pick the right kinds of protein molecules and put them together in the right way to build ONE SINGLE cell Tens of thousands different kinds of proteins Millions of protein molecules Cell: your worst 3D Chinese Jigsaw puzzle nightmare...

19. So can we make a living cell ? • With all our current advanced knowledge and technologies, we cannot make a living cell from scratch... • Suppose we would break apart a living cell, we could notput the cell back together again...

20. Now we can talk about Evolution • What I describe next is the “theory” or “guess” that science has proposed to explain how life began on earth • I will describe the theory in its entirety first • As for all science, a theory (guess)must be supported by evidence – I will present the scientific evidence after presenting the Theory of Evolution (and explain what’s wrong with the theory)

21. Evolution: How did life begin (1) • Early earth’s atmosphere contains Hydrogen, Methane, Ammonia, Nitrogen gases • Lightning provided energy to fuse the gases into different Amino-acid molecules • Amino-acid molecules collide with one another to for protein molecules • Protein moleculescollide with one another to form a living cell

22. Evolution: How did life begin (2) • At first, life was very simple and consist of “self replicating molecules” • Later, life learn to store genetic information in DNA molecules: single cell organisms (bacteria) • And later, single cell organisms developed into simple multi-cell orgasms (Example: coral polyp)

23. Evolution: How did life diversify ? Billions of years Life “changes” slowly over long time…

24. Evolution: how did life diversify ? • When more and more living organisms are on earth, they compete for their food • The stronger (faster, smarter, etc) animals will have a better chance to survive and reproduce • This process of adaptation is called “natural selection”

25. Science: always check the evidence • A scientific theory is only a guess – it can be wrong ! • The principle in science is to always check the theoryagainst the evidence • The evidence is never wrong • So do we have strong evidence for the Theory of Evolution ?

26. “Making amino-acid” according to Evolution • Put Hydrogen, Methane, Ammonia, Nitrogen together • Use lightning (electric sparks) to fuse the gases into different Amino-acid molecules • Any evidence that this can be done ?

27. Making Amino-acids: Miller’s experiment • Miller put water, nitrogen, methane, ammonia, hydrogen and carbon dioxide in a flask • The mixture was zapped for a week by high voltage sparks • Miller was able to make a number of different types of amino-acid molecules • Some scientists saw this as “proof” that life began on earth through evolution

28. What’s wrong with Miller’s experiment • When you do science, you must get the starting condition right; otherwise, the result of the experiment is flawed • Scientists have discovered that Earth’s early atmosphere did not contain hydrogen, methane and ammonia • When Miller’s experiment is repeated, all it produced were very harmful chemicals !

29. More problems with Miller’s experiment • Miller’s experiment cannot produce enough amino-acids (electrical sparks destroy the amino-acids !!!) • Miller’s (and later) experiment can only create proteins made with up to 30 amino-acids (some proteins have more than 1000 amino-acids !!!) • Proteins made in Miller’s experiment contain both left-handed and right-handed variants of amino-acids (living cells only use left-handed ones)

30. What some scientists say... • The physicist Fred Hoyle had this to say: • "This scenario (a huge number of amino-acid molecules bouncing against each other and creating a living cell) is about as likely as a tornado whirling through a junkyard and accidentally assembling a fully functional Boeing 747"... • In a recent debate, Miller was asked if he believed life could have started according to his experiment, Miller said: No comment...

31. Evolution: life have common ancestor • All life started from a common ancestor • Is there any evidence for this fact ???

32. Evidence 1 for common descend: embryos • Haeckle showed embryos at different stages of their development (1874) • Haeckle’s drawing shows that embryos from different specieslook alike at the start of their development • Many biology text books claim that this shows that all living things had a common ancestor

33. Evidence 2 for common descend: structure • The skeleton of vertebrates have a common design: looks like coming from one common ancestor

34. Non-evidence 1: Haeckle’s fraud ! • You GOTTA to smell fish if biology text books in 2004 use a drawing from 1874 • In 1997, Richardson took pictures of real embryos • Richardson: • “it's turning out to be one of the most famousFAKESin Biology…” Many biology text books still contain this lie !!!

35. More real embryos Pictures of real embryos clearly show embryos differ greatly at early stage Embryosdoes NOT support the theory of one common ancestor

36. Dubious evidence 2: one Creator ? • We see common structure in other things: These common structure shows a common designer (humans), not necessarily a common ancestor.

37. Fossils • When some animals died a catastrophic (quick) death (e.g., volcano eruption), their bodies can be encapsulated in stone/dirt and become a fossil:

38. Fossil Record • Fossils are deposited in rock in layers: • The deeper a layer, the older the fossils ! Recentfossils Millions of year later Ancientfossils

39. Fossil record according to Evolution • According to Evolution: • there is one kind of living organisms in the beginning and animals change slowly over time (millions of years !) • The number of different kinds of animals (species) grows slowly over a long period of time Time

40. Fossil record in reality • Bacteria (procaryotic cells) 3,500 millions years ago • Complex (eucaryotic cells) 2,000 millions years ago • Multicellular animals (jelly fish) 670 millions years ago • Shell-bearing animals (insects) 540 millions years ago • Vertebrates (simple fishes) 490 millions years ago • Amphibians (frogs) 350 millions years ago • Reptiles (lizards) 310 millions years ago • Mammals 200 millions years ago • Nonhuman primates 60 millions years ago • Earliest apes 25 millions years ago • Modern humans 0.15 millions years ago Over 100,000 species of insects appeared suddenly

41. Fossil Record in Reality • We find the fossils buried in the rock layers this way: • Before a certain period (Cambrium layer), there is only fossils from a few species (simple animals) • After this period, fossils from all kinds of animals appear within a few million years (very short for evolution) • Scientists call this “Cambrium explosion” Time

42. What does the Fossil record tell us ? • According the evolution, number of species in fossil record changes slowly • Actual fossils show thousands of different kinds of insects appear at the about same time ! • The Fossil Record better supports creation • All the fossils of species found have well-formed features (complete wings) • Many species appear within a short time – like someone designed them all at once !

43. Evidence for Natural Selection: moths • Lighter-colored moths resting on dark tree barks can be easily spotted by birds and eaten

44. Natural selection: confirmed fact • Good news for the Theory of Evolution: • Natural selection is a (the only) fact that is confirmed by scientific evidence • Yes, animals do change to survive • BUT !!!...

45. The truth about natural selection • Natural selection is not the same thing as evolution: • Natural selection can make small changes (shape and color)within one animal specie • Natural selection cannot change one specie into another • Color change in a mothdoes not change the moth into a butterfly or bee !!! • Evidence for natural selection is NOT evidence for evolution !!!

46. Making new animals: the great fly experiment • Starting in 1906, for more than 40 years, Thomas Hunt Morgan, a Columbia University zoologist tried to create a new type of animal from fruit flies • Fruit flies were ideal because their eggs hatch in 12 short days – ideal for evolution experiment • Morgan used X-rays on the flies to speed up mutations (changes in cells): ? X-ray

47. Result of the Fruit Fly experiment Bar eyes • The fruit fly never became anything but a fruit fly • Result does NOT support the theory (guess) that one kind of animal can change into another kind ! Vestigial wings Curled wings Extra wings (immobile)

48. Is Life Designed or Evolved ? • Morse code: • A   .- B   -... C   -.-. D   -.. E   . F   ..-. • Combination of short and long pulse identify a unique letter • To send the word “bad” in Morse code: -… .- -.. “dee dot dot dot” “dot dee” “dee dot dot” • Morse code was designed by intelligent life forms (humans) for communication (this was before the telephone was invented)

49. Is Life Designed or Evolved ? • Remember that a protein molecule is made up of a number of different amino-acid molecules? • Different sequence of amino-acid molecules will make a different protein • How does your body know which amino-acid molecule to pick to make the right protein ? Genetic CODE ! Just like Morse code !!! Every 3 “base” molecule in DNA (gene) identifies one amino-acid molecule in a protein

50. Created or Evolved ? • Some things in nature are almost impossible to have been “built” without any intelligent maker • Suppose you see the following contraption: • Would you believe it came about by itself ?