What Defines an Organism? Biologists Say 'Purpose.'

ICR News ^ | December 10, 2009 | Brian Thomas, M.S.

[GodGunsGuts]

David Queller and Joan Strassmann, evolutionary biologists at Rice University, recently proposed a new way to describe what makes an organism a unified whole. They defined an organism as an entity made up of parts that cooperate well for an overall purpose, and do so with minimal conflict. But how do parts like these get together, and where does purposeful behavior come from?...

[xcamel]

You having a bunny/pancake moment or something?

[IronKros]

If you subscribe to the panspermia theory.

But then you still have to place the origin of life somewhere else.
Might as well do the dirty work here.

[metmom]

That’s not acceptable unless you can tell us the source of the meteorites.

[Wacka]

Here are the words to the theme (sung by the Bare Naked Ladies). Only the first verse is shown on TV:

Our whole universe was in a hot dense state,
Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started. Wait...
The Earth began to cool,
The autotrophs began to drool,
Neanderthals developed tools,
We built a wall (we built the pyramids),
Math, science, history, unraveling the mysteries,
That all started with the big bang!

“Since the dawn of man” is really not that long,
As every galaxy was formed in less time than it takes to sing this song.
A fraction of a second and the elements were made.
The bipeds stood up straight,
The dinosaurs all met their fate,
They tried to leap but they were late
And they all died (they froze their asses off)
The oceans and pangea
See ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya
Set in motion by the same big bang!

It all started with the big BANG!

It’s expanding ever outward but one day
It will cause the stars to go the other way,
Collapsing ever inward, we won’t be here, it wont be hurt
Our best and brightest figure that it’ll make an even bigger bang!

Australopithecus would really have been sick of us
Debating out while here they’re catching deer (we’re catching viruses)
Religion or astronomy, Encarta, Deuteronomy
It all started with the big bang!

Music and mythology, Einstein and astrology
It all started with the big bang!
It all started with the big BANG!

[mnehring]

Still digging for the power, however, posting some of the original papers while I look so I don’t lose the link.

http://www.issol.org/miller/miller1953.pdf

[IronKros]

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1200/is_n4_v146/ai_15657614/

[stormer]

And don't forget to mention that 6CO₂ + 6H₂O + sunlight → C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂. Something to eat and something to breathe!

[metmom]

That’s right, MamaTexan.

You heard it.

Lightning.

And you know what lightning does to things, don’t you?

[mnehring]

No need for the seeding theory, these are all pretty common chemicals.

[xcamel]

Not even that complex.. just the right chemicals being in the right place at the right time under the right conditions.

[stormer]

Why? The chemicals involved are virtually universal - created in the first moments of the big-bang. Remember, matter is neither created or destroyed.

[xcamel]

See post 159.

[metmom]

Only in a cell by chlorophyll.

On its own, you just get lots more Brownian motion in the CO2 and H2O.

[MamaTexan]

Just because you don’t like the answer....

Oh, the answer was a predictable one. It's just the arrogant attitude of the source that I despise.

[mnehring]

And you know what lightning does to things, don’t you?

It depends on what you mean by 'things' and the power you are talking about. For the most part, I'm sure the answer you are looking for relates to "combustion" but remember that combustion is just a chemical reaction. If you are talking about a combustible material, then yes, combustion will occur, but lightening can also trigger chemicals to combine (throwing off or adding electrons into the mix, etc) or break apart.

[xcamel]

Back to my favorite cyanobacter - turning the CO2 planet into an O2 paradise (and killing off most of whatever else had evolved up to that point)

[Wacka]

Recently, it was shown that Uracil (taked teh place of Thymine in RNA can be produced under conditions in outer space.
Science to pyrimidine (the precursor to Uracil) which has been shown to exist in space, to low temps (near absolute zero, with water (ice) which has been is very abundant in space, on the moon and Mars, and subjected it to radiation (simulating cosmic rays). They found that Uracil was produced.
One of the building blocks of RNA could possibly be produced in space.

As CSNY said “We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon...”

[metmom]

So, all those chemicals left to themselves will just sort of self-assemble under the *right* conditions?

And how long do those *right conditions* have to last to produce chemical structures complex enough to be viable?

[xcamel]

I just threw that in because a friend of mine just had a find from Kansas analyzed and it was loaded with simple amino acids.

really got the “planet 4” theory going again (asteroid belt)

[MamaTexan]

In the lab, the Miller–Urey experiment (reproducible) required very little, a small spark triggered the chemical reaction.

Thank you. Not that I give credence to the science of PBS specials, but the last one I caught on the subject was talking about a massive amount of electricity from lightening. It didn't seem rational at the time because that amount of power would seem to COOK life, not create it. :-)