Page 136 - Genesis: Book of Beginnings and Science Behind it

Here are three rock formations. Put a checkmark on the formation(s) that indicate that some intelligent
beings have modified the rock formation. Why?

Key Ingredients for a designer:

When looking at Mount Rushmore in the United States, one can observe figures in the rock that are not
normal. They, in fact, are very unusual. That’s because they have the appearance of something we have
seen before. We recognize the heads of four past presidents because they look like pictures we have
seen elsewhere. Immediately, we recognize that the shapes of Mount Rushmore are very extraordinary
and probably did not happen by mere erosion over time. We recognize a complexity at the top of the
mountain that matches a specific pattern in our minds: the pictures of our past presidents. The
unusualness of the mountain and the recognition of a specific pattern signal our minds that SOMEONE
(a rock sculpture) used equipment to carve the figures. Mt. Rushmore did not happen by chance. It was
designed.

When we see a house in a tree, two things become immediately evident:
1. It is extraordinary and improbable to see houses in trees.
2. The complexity of the house (roof, rails, windows, doors, ladder) matches a specific pattern that we
recognize (we’ve seen houses elsewhere).

These two characteristics (extraordinary and improbable, and complexity which matches a specific
pattern) all signal to our minds that someone of intelligence designed and created the observed object.
Now, let’s relate this concept to biological systems.

Here is a brief overview of the biochemistry of vision. When light
first strikes the retina, a photon interacts with a molecule called
11-cis-retinal, which rearranges within picoseconds to trans-
retinal. The change in the shape of the retinal forces a change in
the shape of the protein, rhodopsin, to which the retinal is tightly
bound. The protein's metamorphosis alters its behavior, making it
stick to another protein called transducin. Before bumping into
activated rhodopsin, transducin had tightly bound a small molecule
called GDP. But when transducin interacts with activated
rhodopsin, the GDP falls off, and a molecule called GTP binds to
transducin. (GTP is closely related to, but critically different from,
GDP.)

133