The ID Update

by Denyse O'Leary
ARN correspondent

Here's an interesting article in New Scientist by Bob Holmes on a new approach to how animals become separate species ("Accidental origins: Where species come from", March 10, 2010):

Everywhere you look in nature, you can see evidence of natural selection at work in the adaptation of species to their environment. Surprisingly though, natural selection may have little role to play in one of the key steps of evolution - the origin of new species. Instead it would appear that speciation is merely an accident of fate.

So, at least, says Mark Pagel, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Reading, UK. If his controversial claim proves correct, then the broad canvas of life - the profusion of beetles and rodents, the dearth of primates, and so on - may have less to do with the guiding hand of natural selection and more to do with evolutionary accident-proneness.

[ ... ]

"When it works, it works remarkably well," he says. "But it only works in about 6 per cent of cases. It doesn't seem to be a general way that groups of species fill out their niches."

Then Darwin's theory just barely makes it to statistical significance, conventionally given as 4 per cent.

The otherwise most informative article is marred by the constant need to claim that Darwin was not wrong - but obviously, if Pagels is right, Darwin was indeed wrong, and so are all the people fronting his cause. Natural selection acting on random mutation was, precisely, Darwin's proposed mechanism.

No one supposes that natural selection doesn’t occur. But is it the main driver of new species, as Darwin thought, and Pagels doubts?

Pagels dances very nervously indeed around that point (presumably from fear of joining the Expelled, given that his genome research has failed to back Darwin up.

So, for a free copy of Expelled, which details what happened to a variety of people who questioned establishment Darwinism, based on its failures of evidence, and provide the best answer to this question: What do you think of Pagels’s evidence? Is it critical? Is he just blowing smoke? Will he be forced to recant?

Here's where you enter, which you do by posting a comment, 400 words or less. If you are new to Uncommon Descent, you will need to sign up.

Here are the contest rules, not many or difficult. The main thing is 400 words or less. Winners receive a certificate verifying their win as well as the prize. Winners must provide me with a valid postal address, though it need not be theirs. A winner's name is never added to a mailing list. There is no mailing list. Have fun!

Toronto-based Canadian journalist Denyse O'Leary (www.designorchance.com) is the author of the multiple award-winning By Design or by Chance? (Augsburg Fortress 2004), an overview of the intelligent design controversy. She was named CBA Canada's Recommended Author of the Year in 2005 and is co-author, with Montreal neuroscientist Mario Beauregard, of The Spiritual Brain: A neuroscientist's case for the existence of the soul (Harper 2007).

The mollusc, known as the scaly-foot gastropod, has been known for about a decade. It was discovered living in the deep sea near the Kairei Indian hydrothermal vent field on the Central Indian Ridge. The natural environment for the animal is harsh. There are extremes of temperatures, high pressures and high acidity levels that can easily damage shells of calcium carbonate. Brachyuran crabs live in the vicinity and these "are known to compress gastropod mollusc shells between their chela" with loads of up to 60N.

"To understand how the valiant gastropod holds up to these trials, Christine Ortiz of MIT and her colleagues used nanoscale experiments and computer simulations to dig in to the shell's structure. Many other species' shells exhibit what Ortiz calls "mechanical property amplification," in which the whole material is hundreds of times stronger than the sum of its parts."

The scaly-foot gastropod uses a unique trilayered shell to protect itself from hazards. (Image credit: Anders Waren, Swedish Museum of Natural History. Source here)

Most exoskeletal structures are technically known as multilayered composites. The parameters are the layer thicknesses, the nano- and microstructure of each layer, the number of layers, the sequence of layers, etc. Each species appears to have its own resultant profile.

"Design, inspired by nature, of engineering materials with robust and multifunctional mechanical properties [i.e., those which sustain a variety of loading conditions] is a topic of major technological interest in a variety of civilian and defense applications. Here, we identify the design principles of the shell of a gastropod mollusc from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent [order Neomphalina, family Peltospiridae, species Crysomallon squamiferum]. This system has a trilayered structure unlike any other known mollusc or any other known natural armor, with a relatively thick compliant organic layer embedded between two stiffer mineralized layers, an outer iron sulfide-based layer and an inner calcified shell."

The outer layer is about 30 micrometres thick and is mineralised: it contains iron sulphide particles (greigite, Fe2S4). This gastropod is the only metazoan known to employ iron sulphide as a skeletal material. The middle layer is about 150 micrometres thick and is thought to be the periostracum (the template for shell mineralization, providing protection against corrosive and dissolutive marine environments, and also chemical protection from boring organisms). The inner layer is composed of aragonite that is itself layered:

"[It] possesses a gradient layer [. . .] with a typical crossed lamellar layer (CLL) microstructure (approximately 50 [micro]m thick), followed by a relatively thick layer also with a CLL microstructure (approximately 200 [micro]m thick, followed by a thin prismatic layer (PL) on the inner surface of the shell (approximately 1.5 [micro]m thick)."

This structure has been studied empirically and modelled. Simulations were performed to understand how the shell responds to impacts and applied loads. There are too many details to document here.

"It is interesting to see how C. squamiferum has created these additional different protection mechanism compared to other gastropod molluscs by using materials plentiful and specific to the deep-sea hydrothermal vent environment, i.e., vent fluids rich in dissolved sulfides and metals.
The design principles of the trilayered shell of C. squamiferum exhibit many aspects that are different from the highly calcified shells of typical gastropod molluscs or any other natural armor. Each material layer serves distinct and multifunctional roles leading to many advantages."

Design principles have emerged from this research. The authors have found new design features leading to enhanced functional performance. "Each material layer serves distinct and multifunctional roles leading to many advantages". They point out that design principles are extremely important because there are so many variables: "The design space for synthetic multilayered structural composites for protective applications is enormous". The great merit of biological systems is that they provide a chart to steer through this space. However, the authors attribute design in biological systems to an "evolutionary process".

"Biological systems, such as the one described here, greatly reduce the engineering design space since efficient threat-protection design concepts have emerged through the lengthy evolutionary process that fulfill the necessary functions and constraints."

The problem with this evolutionary framework is that it has no empirical validity. We have no warrant for explaining design principles via evolutionary processes. The authors explain that they do not know whether the observed design "represents an advanced functional adaptation as an antipredatory response or an exaptation (i.e., a trait that evolved to serve one function, but subsequently and simultaneously may serve other functions)". This comment is, unfortunately, entirely typical of the culture prevailing in science produced by philosophical materialism. Evolutionists have supreme confidence in their theoretical framework, but do not seem to see the need to constrain theory by reference to empirical data. Observed adaptations do not demonstrate the emergence of design concepts. The only sources of design concepts that we know of are intelligent agents. Replacing the culture of materialism by one that integrates information inputs with physics and chemistry is long overdue.

With this alternative culture, paragraphs like the following take on a new richness of meaning:

"In particular, the efficient natural armor structural system described here sustains both mechanical loading, as well as thermal fluctuations with inherent mechanisms to prevent catastrophic failure. The multimaterial, trilayer design and advantageous curved geometry enables structural stiffening, reduction of radial displacements, penetration resistance, and stability during thermal impulses even with the presence of large mismatches between constituent materials. Trilayered sandwich composite designs have had limited use in military applications, and the concepts reported here could lead to bioinspired improvements and broader applicability and improved performance for human, vehicle, and structural armor."

Protection mechanisms of the iron-plated armor of a deep-sea hydrothermal vent gastropod
Haimin Yao, Ming Dao, Timothy Imholt, Jamie Huang, Kevin Wheeler, Alejandro Bonilla, Subra Suresh, and Christine Ortiz
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, January 19, 2010, vol. 107, no. 3, 987-992 | doi:10.1073/pnas.0912988107

Abstract: Biological exoskeletons, in particular those with unusually robust and multifunctional properties, hold enormous potential for the development of improved load-bearing and protective engineering materials. Here, we report new materials and mechanical design principles of the iron-plated multilayered structure of the natural armor of Crysomallon squamiferum, a recently discovered gastropod mollusc from the Kairei Indian hydrothermal vent field, which is unlike any other known natural or synthetic engineered armor. We have determined through nanoscale experiments and computational simulations of a predatory attack that the specific combination of different materials, microstructures, interfacial geometries, gradation, and layering are advantageous for penetration resistance, energy dissipation, mitigation of fracture and crack arrest, reduction of back deflections, and resistance to bending and tensile loads. The structure-property-performance relationships described are expected to be of technological interest for a variety of civilian and defense applications.

See also:

Grossman, L. Snail In Shining Armor, Science News, February 13th, 2010; Vol.177 #4 (p. 13)

Stephen Meyer responds to Francisco J. Ayala's review of his book Signiture in the Cell.

More...

A great example of ID...and far less complex than the working inside a human cell, as shown in THIS ANIMATION.

and in Unlocking the Mystery of Life

Here is the Rube Goldberg machine...

In the EnterpriseBlog, Jay Richards comments on the story in the New York Times about the linking of climate change and evolution.

Richards opines...there are budding initiatives in state legislatures and boards of education to encourage or require balance in classroom discussions of global warming. The point of the piece, though, is to connect the teaching of evolution to the climate change debate:

Critics of the teaching of evolution in the nation's classrooms are gaining ground in some states by linking the issue to global warming, arguing that dissenting views on both scientific subjects should be taught in public schools.

Now when I read anything on the environment in the New York Times, I try to keep a couple of deconstructionist qualifiers running in the back of my head: "This is what the New York Times wants me to believe about the issue" and "What are they trying to accomplish with this piece?" I know it's cynical, but when it comes to environmental stories, I just don't trust New York Times reporters to keep it straight.

Some things they want to accomplish with this piece:

More...

A fossil that was celebrated last year as a possible "missing link" between humans and early primates is actually a forebearer of modern-day lemurs and lorises, according to two papers by scientists at The University of Texas at Austin, Duke University and the University of Chicago.

In an article now available online in the Journal of Human Evolution, four scientists present evidence that the 47-million-year-old Darwinius masillae is not a haplorhine primate like humans, apes and monkeys, as the 2009 research claimed.

They also note that the article on Darwinius published last year in the journal PLoS ONE ignores two decades of published research showing that similar fossils are actually strepsirrhines, the primate group that includes lemurs and lorises.

More...

Well known theologist, R.C. Sproul, interviewed Stephen Meyer, author of Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design, on philosophy, evolution, education, Intelligent Design, and more.

The GospelCoalition has the link. Scroll down to Justin Taylor's March 5 post.

Click HERE.

This debate was held at Indiana University.

Craig's analysis, as usual, was beautifully precise and accurate.

For the debate, click HERE.

Spider silk has been an active area for biomimetics research for several years. Spinoff companies have been launched in anticipation of commercial gains. However, despite the enthusiasm and commitment of research staff, the prizes are still elusive. Whilst the main goal is to produce fibres that are as strong and as flexible as spider silk, there are other aspects of the natural material that have attracted the interest of researchers. One of these concerns the ability of webs to be a site for dew collection.

"When Lei Jiang first observed the phenomenon, he was intrigued. "How does that happen?" he wondered. After all, he says, "if you took a human hair, water would not stick to it like that". His initial curiosity led to an almost five-year-long study. The findings could have implications for the design of materials for water collection and for the efficiency of chemical reactions."

Spider silk manipulates water with skill (source here)

Not only do webs attract dew, the droplets are able to hang stably on the silk fibres. This suggests the presence of a microstructural mechanism. All polymeric fibres have a microstructure and spider silk is no exception. SEM images reveal a series of amorphous regions (called puffs) and crystalline regions (called joints). The nanofibrils are highly hydrophilic: enhancing wettability and favourable for condensing dew. The puffs have a very open structure and are semi-transparent in images. However, when water starts to condense, the puffs shrink - first to "opaque bumps" and then to "spindle-knots". As they shrink, tiny water droplets coalesce to form larger drops with movement from joints to spindle-knots.

"Further work revealed that movement of the droplets towards the knots is directed by two forces acting together: the force generated by a gradient of surface energy on the fibrils and the one produced by the spindle shape of the knots. "This is quite different from other reported surfaces, on which drops are driven just by individual forces," says Jiang."

These findings are stimulating human invention. The research paper reports success with nylon filaments that are coated with a hydrophilic material that dries in tiny knots similar to those found in spider silk. The goal now is to produce something of commercial value.

"These observations clearly show that our artificial spider silk not only mimics the structure of wet-rebuilt spider silk but also its directional water collection capability. We therefore anticipate that the design principles uncovered and implemented in this study will aid the development of functional fibres for use in water collection and in liquid aerosols filtering in manufacturing processes."

Why does the spider produce a web with dew-gathering potential? "The researchers are unsure of why the spider has evolved to possess this ability. "It could be for its drinking activities, or it could be to refresh the web structure to make it stronger and stickier for prey," Jiang told physicsworld.com." Magdalena Helmer wrote a short News & Views piece on "Dew catchers", saying: "spiders don't need to look for water because the silk fibres that they spin are highly efficient at collecting it from moist air". However, direct evidence of functionality is lacking. There is considerable scepticism that spiders make any use of dew-gathering.

"But Fritz Vollrath, who studies spider silk at Oxford University in the UK, disagrees with Jiang's theory. He thinks spider silk has to be dry to function. 'If I am correct, then the authors are studying an artefact, which is still interesting, although it has no biological function,' says Vollrath. [. . .] Brent Opell, a spider expert at Virginia Tech in Virginia, US, is equally cautious about the results, although he says the experimental work is sound. 'The implication that [capture] threads have evolved to harvest moisture is not the view of most arachnologists,' he says."

Is there an ID perspective on this? Wherever researchers recognise "design principles" in the natural world, the answer is, of course, 'yes'. The presumption with ID is that design features imply functionality, whether or not we know the details. Dew gathering is a unique and remarkable feature of spider silk simply because other fibres do not display such behaviour. The authors comment:

"We observed such directional water collection behaviour only with wetted silk fibres (that is, wet-rebuilt silk) from the cribellate spider Uloborus walckenaerius; in contrast, silkworm silk and nylon fibres with a uniform structure did not exhibit the directional water collection phenomenon."

Whether evolutionists can explain 'how the spider came to gather dew' is more uncertain. Even with functionality identified, perfecting this highly engineered system makes it most reasonable to infer intelligent, rather than natural, causation.

Directional water collection on wetted spider silk
Yongmei Zheng, Hao Bai, Zhongbing Huang, Xuelin Tian, Fu-Qiang Nie, Yong Zhao, Jin Zhai & Lei Jiang
Nature, 463, 640-643 (4 February 2010) | doi:10.1038/nature08729

First paragraph: Many biological surfaces in both the plant and animal kingdom possess unusual structural features at the micro- and nanometre-scale that control their interaction with water and hence wettability. An intriguing example is provided by desert beetles, which use micrometre-sized patterns of hydrophobic and hydrophilic regions on their backs to capture water from humid air. As anyone who has admired spider webs adorned with dew drops will appreciate, spider silk is also capable of efficiently collecting water from air. Here we show that the water-collecting ability of the capture silk of the cribellate spider Uloborus walckenaerius is the result of a unique fibre structure that forms after wetting, with the 'wet-rebuilt' fibres characterized by periodic spindle-knots made of random nanofibrils and separated by joints made of aligned nanofibrils. These structural features result in a surface energy gradient between the spindle-knots and the joints and also in a difference in Laplace pressure, with both factors acting together to achieve continuous condensation and directional collection of water drops around spindle-knots. Submillimetre-sized liquid drops have been driven by surface energy gradients or a difference in Laplace pressure, but until now neither force on its own has been used to overcome the larger hysteresis effects that make the movement of micrometre-sized drops more difficult. By tapping into both driving forces, spider silk achieves this task. Inspired by this finding, we designed artificial fibres that mimic the structural features of silk and exhibit its directional water-collecting ability.

Making the paper: Lei Jiang
Nature, 463, 586 (4 February 2010) | doi:10.1038/7281586a

Abstract: Spider silk structure holds secret to catching water as well as flies.

See also:

Birch, H. How spider silk soaks up water, Chemistry World (3 February 2010)

Dacey, J. Spider web inspires fibres for industry, physicsworld.com (3 February 2010)

Helmer, M. Dew catchers, Nature, 463, 618 (4 February 2010) | doi:10.1038/463618a

by Denyse O'Leary
ARN correspondent

I see where Discovery Institute has put up a podcast with me, on "Is the Brain Just an Illusion"?

This must be one of the ones I did in Seattle in 2007, when they asked me to come and explain the book.

What I always ask is, "If the brain or the mind are an illusion, whose illusion are they?"

This question is modelled on the Jewish zen: "If the mind is an illusion, whose arthritis is this?"

On this episode of ID The Future, Anika Smith interviews science writer Denyse O'Leary about her book, The Spiritual Brain: A Neuroscientist's Case for the Existence of the Soul.

In the book O'Leary and her co-author Mario Beaurogard, neuroscientist and Associate Professor at Université de Montréal, explore the question of whether or not the mind is an illusion as materialists believe. The Spiritual Brain looks at whether religious experiences come from God or are merely the random firing of neurons in the brain. Drawing on his own research with Carmelite nuns, Beauregard shows that genuine, life-changing spiritual events can be documented. He and O'Leary offer compelling evidence that mind creates matter, rather than matter creating mind.

Listen here. By the way, I always call myself the co-author and recognize neuroscientist Mario Beauregard of the Universite de Montreal as the lead author.

Toronto-based Canadian journalist Denyse O'Leary (www.designorchance.com) is the author of the multiple award-winning By Design or by Chance? (Augsburg Fortress 2004), an overview of the intelligent design controversy. She was named CBA Canada's Recommended Author of the Year in 2005 and is co-author, with Montreal neuroscientist Mario Beauregard, of The Spiritual Brain: A neuroscientist's case for the existence of the soul (Harper 2007).