Sunday, May 24, 2009

Evolution's Junk is Biology's Treasure

Another week, another "junk DNA" claim disproven. And this time in rather dramatic fashion. The headline reads "Research team finds important role for junk DNA." That's putting mildly. The "junk" DNA genes "spur an almost acrobatic rearrangement of the entire genome" of the humble protozoan, Oxytricha.

Early discoveries of "junk" DNA function were a bit more mundane. For instance, some segments were found to have a structural role. To be sure, structural roles actually are complex, and it is not good science to think mutations constructed such a marvel. Later, the "junk" DNA was found to be responsible for massive, sophisticated gene regulation. Pretty amazing. But now we have the rearranging of the entire genome. Biology doesn't seem to understand evolution. But evolutionists don't give up easily--after all, it's a fact.