Page 56 - The Miracle in the Cell

THE MIRACLE IN THE CELL
Mutations are changes that can arise in the organism's DNA as a
result of external factors like chemical agents, x-rays, and radiation.
But such changes can never bring about the formation of a new
species, because mutations are deficiencies or changes in the order of
the genetic information. They cannot add anything new to the genetic
mix. Information pertaining to any living thing has been recorded in
the genetic code of that particular creature. Consequently any genetic
mutation will cause a deliberate alteration in that species' number,
color or type of existing organs and structures. They can never result
in a brand-new organ or feature. What's more, 99.9% of mutations are
harmful, and in fact may be lethal for living things. The remaining
0.01% either have no effect, or their damage cannot swiftly be deter-
mined. Apart from viruses, whose genetic and physiological struc-
tures are deliberately adjusted to tolerate mutations, the question of
beneficial mutations never arises.
DNA's structure is highly advanced in terms of the information
it contains and in the way it can store it. Obviously, any external tam-
pering will ruin such an advanced system. Any random change to a
device with highly complex mechanisms will not improve the device
but on the contrary, will destroy it.
Or to use another analogy, an earthquake cannot build a city, it
will level it-just like the effects of a mutation on DNA. Let's assume
that a beneficial mutation does exist. But for every beneficial muta-
tion, there are thousands of harmful ones, and so the overall effect is
going to be the species' deterioration or extinction. Today's world
should have been full of freaks who have undergone minor mutations:
fish hatched with three eyes, or cats that give birth to five-legged kit-
tens. But just as mutations are harmful, they are also extremely rare.
The changes that mutations could result in are like those experienced
in Hiroshima, Nagasaki or Chernobyl.
In the hopes of proving the theory of evolution, scientists have
carried out experiments that result in fruit flies that, having been sub-

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