Page 218 - If Darwin Had Known about DNA
P. 218

Harun Yahya


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               in question have no purpose and consist merely of nonsensical or
               "junk" sequences. They claim that these genes have lost their functions

               over the course of an evolutionary process lasting millions of years. In
               fact, this preconception has been refuted by new scientific discoveries.
               Until five or six years ago, scientists gave the name "junk DNA" to large
               strings of genes whose functions were unknown-thus they couldn't de-
               scribe them as genes.
                   Contrary to their claims, however, it has emerged that these actu-
               ally direct vital functions are of critical importance in the repair of func-
               tioning gene segments. 145
                   In an article in the journal Nature Genetics on 13 May, 2002, Dr. John

               V. Moran and his team reported that the active parts of junk DNA were
               sections carrying out repair services for the genome. 146  These can pro-
               duce copies of themselves in a manner similar to copying and pasting
               a section of text-an exceedingly useful function when the DNA's dou-
               ble helix begins to separate. The double helix can be damaged when
               chemicals reach the cell or when there is any outside pressure, which
               can lead to cell death. Those parts of DNA formerly claimed to be junk
               travel around inside the genome and identify such faulty separations;
               when they encounter such a phenomenon, they go into action and
               bring that region back together into alignment. 147
                   From time to time, evolutionist sources suggest that some organs
               in living things no longer have any function, having been inherited
               from these species' ancestors. For example, the appendix or the coccyx

               in the human body were for years regarded as vestigial organs, no longer
               of any use. However, recent scientific research has revealed that all
               these organs do actually have important functions. The list of organs
               that evolutionists at the beginning of the 20 th century described as "ves-
               tigial" is now totally discredited.
                   In the words of the evolutionist writer S. R. Scadding, "As our
               knowledge has increased, the list of vestigial structures has de-
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