The Cell As Revealed By The Electron-Microscope

Entire video:Wonders of the Cell - Chris Ashcrafthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQks3COscX4Electron Microscope Photograph of Flagellum Hook-Basal More

Entire video:Wonders of the Cell - Chris Ashcrafthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQks3COscX4Electron Microscope Photograph of Flagellum Hook-Basal Bodyhttp://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/08-08-20images/figure03.jpg Bacterial Flagellum: Visualizing the Complete Machine In SituExcerpt: Electron tomography of frozen-hydrated bacteria, combined with single particle averaging, has produced stunning images of the intact bacterial flagellum, revealing features of the rotor, stator and export apparatus.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VRT-4M8WTCF-K&_user=10&_coverDate=11%2F07%2F2006&_rdoc=1&_fmt=full&_orig=search&_cdi=6243&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=8d7e0ad266148c9d917cf0c2a9d12e82&artImgPref=FBacterial Flagellum - A Sheer Wonder Of Intelligent Design - videohttp://www.metacafe.com/watch/3994630 Biologist Howard Berg at Harvard calls the Bacterial Flagellum “the most efficient machine in the universe."I would like to reiterate, Darwinism postulated a very simple first cell, yet the simplest cell scientists have been able to find on earth, which can't even be seen with the naked eye, is vastly more complex than any machine man has ever made through concerted effort. This is self evident since a cell can self-replicate with seeming ease whereas a machine cannot. This following site has a interactive graph that lets people look into this 'invisible' world of microbes:CELL TO CARBON ATOM - SIZE AND SCALE - Interactive Graph - Move cursor at the bottom of graph to the right to reduce the size:http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/cells/scale/The smallest cyano-bacterium known to science has hundreds of millions of individual atomic molecules (not counting water molecules), divided into nearly a thousand completely distinct atomic molecule types; and a genome (DNA sequence) of 1.8 million bits, with over a million individual protein molecules which are sub-divided into hundreds of distinct protein classes. Once again, the complexity found in the simplest bacterium known to science easily outclasses the complexity of any machine man has made. These following articles and videos make this point clear: "The manuals needed for building the entire space shuttle and all its components and all its support systems would be truly enormous! Yet the specified complexity (information) of even the simplest form of life - a bacterium - is arguably as great as that of the space shuttle." J.C. Sanford - Geneticist - Genetic Entropy and the Mystery Of the Genome 'The information content of a simple cell has been estimated as around 10^12 bits, comparable to about a hundred million pages of the Encyclopedia Britannica." Carl Sagan, "Life" in Encyclopedia Britannica: Macropaedia (1974 ed.), pp. 893-894of note: The 10^12 bits of information number for a bacterium is derived from entropic considerations, which is, due to the tightly integrated relationship between information and entropy, considered the most accurate measure of the transcendent information present in a 'simple' life form. For calculations please see the following site:Molecular Biophysics – Information theory. Relation between information and entropy:http://www.astroscu.unam.mx/~angel/tsb/molecular.htmBen Stein - EXPELLED - The Staggering Complexity Of The Cell - videohttp://www.metacafe.com/watch/4227700 “Although the tiniest living things known to science, bacterial cells, are incredibly small (10^-12 grams), each is a veritable micro-miniaturized factory containing thousands of elegantly designed pieces of intricate molecular machinery, made up altogether of one hundred thousand million atoms, far more complicated than any machine built by man and absolutely without parallel in the non-living world”. Michael Denton, "Evolution: A Theory in Crisis," 1986, p. 250. Nanoelectronic Transistor Combined With Biological Machine Could Lead To Better Electronics: - Aug. 2009 Excerpt: While modern communication devices rely on electric fields and currents to carry the flow of information, biological systems are much more complex. They use an arsenal of membrane receptors, channels and pumps to control signal transduction that is unmatched by even the most powerful computers. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090811091834.htm The Cell as a Collection of Protein Machines "We have always underestimated cells. Undoubtedly we still do today,,, Indeed, the entire cell can be viewed as a factory that contains an elaborate network of interlocking assembly lines, each which is composed of a set of large protein machines." Bruce Alberts: Former President, National Academy of Sciences; http://www.imbb.forth.gr/people/aeconomou/documents/Alberts98.pdfThe Cell - A World Of Complexity Darwin Never Dreamed Of - Donald E. Johnson - videohttp://www.metacafe.com/watch/4139390Entire video:http://www.ideaclubtcw.org/video/DEJohnson.htmlBioinformatics: The Information in Life - Donald Johnson - videohttp://vimeo.com/11314902On a slide in the preceding video, entitled 'Information Systems In Life', Dr. Johnson points out that:* the genetic system is a pre-existing operating system;* the specific genetic program (genome) is an application;* the native language has codon-based encryption system;* the codes are read by enzyme computers with their own operating system;* each enzyme’s output is to another operating system in a ribosome;* codes are decrypted and output to tRNA computers;* each codon-specified amino acid is transported to a protein construction site; and* in each cell, there are multiple operating systems, multiple programming languages, encoding/decoding hardware and software, specialized communications systems, error detection/correction systems, specialized input/output for organelle control and feedback, and a variety of specialized “devices” to accomplish the tasks of life. Cells Are Like Robust Computational Systems, - June 2009 Excerpt: Gene regulatory networks in cell nuclei are similar to cloud computing networks, such as Google or Yahoo!, researchers report today in the online journal Molecular Systems Biology. The similarity is that each system keeps working despite the failure of individual components, whether they are master genes or computer processors. ,,,,"We now have reason to think of cells as robust computational devices, employing redundancy in the same way that enables large computing systems, such as Amazon, to keep operating despite the fact that servers routinely fail." http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090616103205.htm Systems biology: Untangling the protein web - July 2009 Excerpt: Vidal thinks that technological improvements — especially in nanotechnology, to generate more data, and microscopy, to explore interaction inside cells, along with increased computer power — are required to push systems biology forward. "Combine all this and you can start to think that maybe some of the information flow can be captured," he says. But when it comes to figuring out the best way to explore information flow in cells, Tyers jokes that it is like comparing different degrees of infinity. "The interesting point coming out of all these studies is how complex these systems are — the different feedback loops and how they cross-regulate each other and adapt to perturbations are only just becoming apparent," he says. "The simple pathway models are a gross oversimplification of what is actually happening." http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v460/n7253/full/460415a.html Simulations reveal new information about the gateway to the cell nucleus Excerpt: “There are whole machines in living cells that are made of hundreds or thousands of proteins,” says Schulten, “and the nuclear pore is one of those systems. It’s actually one of the most magnificent systems in the cell.”,,,Hundreds to thousands of NPCs are embedded in the nuclear envelope of each cell,"... http://www.psc.edu/science/2006/schulten/ Life Leads the Way to Invention - Feb. 2010 Excerpt: a cell is 10,000 times more energy-efficient than a transistor. “ In one second, a cell performs about 10 million energy-consuming chemical reactions, which altogether require about one picowatt (one millionth millionth of a watt) of power.” This and other amazing facts lead to an obvious conclusion: inventors ought to look to life for ideas.,,, Essentially, cells may be viewed as circuits that use molecules, ions, proteins and DNA instead of electrons and transistors. That analogy suggests that it should be possible to build electronic chips – what Sarpeshkar calls “cellular chemical computers” – that mimic chemical reactions very efficiently and on a very fast timescale. http://creationsafaris.com/crev201002.htm#20100226aThis stunning energy efficiency of a cell is found across all life domains, thus strongly suggesting that all life on earth was Intelligently Design for maximal efficiency instead of accidentally, and gradually, evolved: Mean mass-specific metabolic rates are strikingly similar across life's major domains: Evidence for life's metabolic optimum Excerpt: Here, using the largest database to date, for 3,006 species that includes most of the range of biological diversity on the planet—from bacteria to elephants, and algae to sapling trees—we show that metabolism displays a striking degree of homeostasis across all of life. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2572558/Also of interest is that a cell apparently seems to be successfully designed along the very stringent guidelines laid out by Landauer's principle of 'reversible computation' in order to achieve such amazing energy efficiency, something man has yet to accomplish in any meaningful way for computers: Notes on Landauer’s principle, reversible computation, and Maxwell’s Demon - Charles H. Bennett Excerpt: Of course, in practice, almost all data processing is done on macroscopic apparatus, dissipating macroscopic amounts of energy far in excess of what would be required by Landauer’s principle. Nevertheless, some stages of biomolecular information processing, such as transcription of DNA to RNA, appear to be accomplished by chemical reactions that are reversible not only in principle but in practice.,,,, http://www.hep.princeton.edu/~mcdonald/examples/QM/bennett_shpmp_34_501_03.pdfFurther quotes on the unmatched complexity of the cell: “Each cell with genetic information, from bacteria to man, consists of artificial languages and their decoding systems, memory banks for information storage and retrieval, elegant control systems regulating the automated assembly of parts and components, error fail-safe and proof-reading devices utilized for quality control, assembly processes involving the principle of prefabrication and modular construction and a capacity not equaled in any of our most advanced machines, for it would be capable of replicating its entire structure within a matter of a few hours" Geneticist Michael Denton PhD. Evolution: A Theory In Crisis pg. 329 "To grasp the reality of life as it has been revealed by molecular biology, we must first magnify a cell a thousand million times until it is 20 kilometers in diameter and resembles a giant airship large enough to cover a great city like London or New York. What we would see then would be an object of unparalleled complexity,...we would find ourselves in a world of supreme technology and bewildering complexity." Geneticist Michael Denton PhD., Evolution: A Theory In Crisis, pg.328 Building a Cell: Staggering Complexity: - Feb. 2010 Excerpt: “All organisms, from bacteria to humans, face the daunting task of replicating, packaging and segregating up to two metres (about 6 x 10^9 base pairs) of DNA when each cell divides,” “,,,the segregation machinery must function with far greater accuracy than man-made machines and with an exquisitely soft touch to prevent the DNA strands from breaking.” Bloom and Joglekar talked “machine language” over and over. The cell has specialized machines for all kinds of tasks: segregation machines, packaging machines, elaborate machines, streamlined machines, protein translocation machines, DNA-processing machines, DNA-translocation machines, robust macromolecular machines, accurate machines, ratchets, translocation pumps, mitotic spindles, DNA springs, coupling devices, and more. The authors struggle to “understand how these remarkable machines function with such exquisite accuracy.” http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev201002.htm#20100202aHere is a good article that came out in GN magazine in Nov. 2009: 10 Ways Darwin Got It Wrong Excerpt: As molecular biologist Jonathan Wells and mathematician William Dembski point out: “It’s true that eukaryotic cells are the most complicated cells we know. But the simplest life forms we know, the prokaryotic cells (such as bacteria, which lack a nucleus), are themselves immensely complex.,,, There is no evidence whatsoever of earlier, more primitive life forms from which prokaryotes might have evolved” (How to Be an Intellectually Fulfilled Atheist (or Not), 2008, p. 4). These authors then mention what these two types of cells share in terms of complexity: • Information processing, storage and retrieval. • Artificial languages and their decoding systems. • Error detection, correction and proofreading devices for quality control. • Digital data-embedding technology. • Transportation and distribution systems. • Automated parcel addressing (similar to zip codes and UPS labels). • Assembly processes employing pre-fabrication and modular construction. • Self-reproducing robotic manufacturing plants. So it turns out that cells are far more complex and sophisticated than Darwin could have conceived of. How did mere chance produce this, when even human planning and engineering cannot? http://www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn85/10-ways-darwin-wrong.htmThere simply is no "simple life" on earth as materialism had presumed - even the well known single celled amoeba has the complexity of the city of London and reproduces that complexity in only 20 minutes.The inner life of a cell - Harvard University - videohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbcWGU8fpxAUser's guide to the videohttp://sparkleberrysprings.com/innerlifeofcell.htmlHere is a fairly simple to understand basic overview of the cell:How the Body Works: The Cell - videohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiiLS_ovLwMMap Of Major Metabolic Pathways In A Cell - Diagramhttp://www.sigmaaldrich.com/img/assets/4202/MetabolicPathways_6_17_04_.pdf Metabolism: A Cascade of Design Excerpt: A team of biological and chemical engineers wanted to understand just how robust metabolic pathways are. To gain this insight, the researchers compared how far the errors cascade in pathways found in a variety of single-celled organisms with errors in randomly generated metabolic pathways. They learned that when defects occur in the cell’s metabolic pathways, they cascade much shorter distances than when errors occur in random metabolic routes. Thus, it appears that metabolic pathways in nature are highly optimized and unusually robust, demonstrating that metabolic networks in the protoplasm are not haphazardly arranged but highly organized. http://www.reasons.org/metabolism-cascade-design Making the Case for Intelligent Design More Robust Excerpt: ,,, In other words, metabolic pathways are optimized to withstand inevitable concentration changes of metabolites. http://www.reasons.org/making-case-intelligent-design-more-robustWonders of the Cell - 2008 - Christopher Wayne Ashcraft - videohttp://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-509988235357380896 Primary Cilium As Cellular 'GPS System' Crucial To Wound Repair Excerpt: The primary cilium, the solitary, antenna-like structure that studs the outer surfaces of virtually all human cells, orient cells to move in the right direction and at the speed needed to heal wounds, much like a Global Positioning System helps ships navigate to their destinations. "What we are dealing with is a physiological analogy to the GPS system with a coupled autopilot that coordinates air traffic or tankers on open sea," http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081217190330.htmMere Biochemistry: Cell Division Involves Thousands of Complex, Interacting Parts - September 2010http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev201009.htm#20100925aAstonishingly, actual motors, which far surpass man-made motors in 'engineering parameters', are now being found inside 'simple cells'.Articles and Videos on Molecular Motorshttp://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AYmaSrBPNEmGZGM4ejY3d3pfMzlkNjYydmRkZw&hl=enMichael Behe - Life Reeks Of Design - 2010 - videohttp://www.metacafe.com/watch/5066181And in spite of the fact of finding molecular motors permeating the simplest of bacterial life, there are no detailed Darwinian accounts for the evolution of even one such motor or system. "There are no detailed Darwinian accounts for the evolution of any fundamental biochemical or cellular system only a variety of wishful speculations. It is remarkable that Darwinism is accepted as a satisfactory explanation of such a vast subject." James Shapiro - Molecular BiologistThe following expert doesn't even hide his very unscientific preconceived philosophical bias against intelligent design,,, ‘We should reject, as a matter of principle, the substitution of intelligent design for the dialogue of chance and necessity,,,Yet at the same time the same expert readily admits that neo-Darwinism has ZERO evidence for the chance and necessity of material processes producing any cellular system whatsoever,,, ,,,we must concede that there are presently no detailed Darwinian accounts of the evolution of any biochemical or cellular system, only a variety of wishful speculations.’ Franklin M. Harold,* 2001. The way of the cell: molecules, organisms and the order of life, Oxford University Press, New York, p. 205. *Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry, Colorado State University, USAMichael Behe - No Scientific Literature For Evolution of Any Irreducibly Complex Molecular Machineshttp://www.metacafe.com/watch/5302950/ “The response I have received from repeating Behe's claim about the evolutionary literature, which simply brings out the point being made implicitly by many others, such as Chris Dutton and so on, is that I obviously have not read the right books. There are, I am sure, evolutionists who have described how the transitions in question could have occurred.” And he continues, “When I ask in which books I can find these discussions, however, I either get no answer or else some titles that, upon examination, do not, in fact, contain the promised accounts. That such accounts exist seems to be something that is widely known, but I have yet to encounter anyone who knows where they exist.” David Ray Griffin - retired professor of philosophy of religion and theologyWhat I find very persuasive, to the suggestion that the universe was designed with life in mind, is that physicists find many processes in a cell operate at the 'near optimal' capacities allowed in any physical system: William Bialek - Professor Of Physics - Princeton University: Excerpt: "A central theme in my research is an appreciation for how well things “work” in biological systems. It is, after all, some notion of functional behavior that distinguishes life from inanimate matter, and it is a challenge to quantify this functionality in a language that parallels our characterization of other physical systems. Strikingly, when we do this (and there are not so many cases where it has been done!), the performance of biological systems often approaches some limits set by basic physical principles. While it is popular to view biological mechanisms as an historical record of evolutionary and developmental compromises, these observations on functional performance point toward a very different view of life as having selected a set of near optimal mechanisms for its most crucial tasks.,,,The idea of performance near the physical limits crosses many levels of biological organization, from single molecules to cells to perception and learning in the brain,,,," http://www.princeton.edu/~wbialek/wbialek.html Physicists Finding Perfection… in Biology — June 1st, 2009 by Biologic Staff Excerpt: "biological processes tend to be optimal in cases where this can be tested." http://biologicinstitute.org/2009/06/01/physicists-finding-perfection-in-biology/Also of note: There is a fairly substantial economic payoff to be had for presupposing superior 'Intelligent Design' in life, as is testified to by the burgeoning field of Biomimicry:Biomimicry - Superior Designs That Were Found In Lifehttp://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AYmaSrBPNEmGZGM4ejY3d3pfNDBkZ3Nwcnd0Yw&hl=enIntelligent Design - The Anthropic Hypothesis http://lettherebelight-77.blogspot.com/2009/10/intelligent-design-anthropic-hypothesis_19.html
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