Page 248 - Names of Allah

Today as we leave the twentieth century, we still face the biggest
unsolved problem that we had when we entered the twentieth cen-
tury: How did life originate on Earth? 5

THE COMPLEX STRUCTURE OF LIFE

The primary reason why the theory of evolution ended up in such a
great impasse regarding the origin of life is that even those living or-
ganisms deemed to be the simplest have incredibly complex struc-
tures. The cell of a living thing is more complex than all of our
man-made technological products. Today, even in the most developed
laboratories of the world, a living cell cannot be produced by bringing
organic chemicals together.
The conditions required for the formation of a cell are too great in
quantity to be explained away by coincidences. The probability of pro-
teins, the building blocks of a cell, being synthesized coincidentally, is
1 in 10 950 for an average protein made up of 500 amino acids. In math-
ematics, a probability smaller than 1 over 10 is considered to be im-
50
possible in practical terms.
The DNA molecule, which is located in the nucleus of a cell and
which stores genetic information, is an incredible databank. If the in-
formation coded in DNAwere written down, it would make a giant li-
brary consisting of an estimated 900 volumes of encyclopedias
consisting of 500 pages each.
A very interesting dilemma emerges at this point: DNA can repli-
cate itself only with the help of some specialized proteins (enzymes).
However, the synthesis of these enzymes can be realized only by the
information coded in DNA. As they both depend on each other, they
have to exist at the same time for replication. This brings the scenario
that life originated by itself to a deadlock. Prof. Leslie Orgel, an evolu-
tionist of repute from the University of San Diego, California, con-

246