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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sidney Reilly who wrote (416471)	6/18/2003 6:41:17 PM
From: Bald Eagle	Respond to of 769670

RE:If it could happen that life could spring forth from nothing naturally we would have been able to see evidence of that by now. I don't remember the details, but I do remember some claims many years ago that some of the basic building blocks of life had been created from some basic chemicals, water and high voltage electricity. I would have to do some research to find that information.

To: Sidney Reilly who wrote (416471)	6/19/2003 9:54:25 AM
From: TigerPaw	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

One says that radiation formed RNA and the other says that DNA could not survive the radiation of space. There is no contradiction here. The RNA probably couldn't survive a trip through space either. What is being stated is that RNA has less error correcting mechanism (since it is a single strand, not a double strand). This lets it get formed more quickly, mutate more often, and break down more quickly. In the middle, however, it reproduces and those forms which just happen to be a bit more stable don't break down quite as quickly as other arrangements. Over time RNA becomes even more stable, incorporates more redundancy, and passes these characteristics on. Experiments with radiation only provide mutation. This is a neutral process (or detrimental as you state). Beneficial characteristics are more often passed by information sharing through sex or conjugation and not random radiation. The real engine of evolution is the selection process. It is not accurate to compare the process in place today, after 4 billion years of evolution, with the processes which were at play when life on earth began. The chemistry is different, but even more important, the selection pressures are different. It's much easier for even a crippled organism to thrive when there is no competition and plenty of resources. TP