Posted 10:23 AM by robert d

Point Expansion

When we consider the beginning of things there seems to be a pattern.

15 billion years ago there was a point expansion creating The Universe. Emphasis is put on the term point. The expansion that created The Universe did not happen in spots, with an expansion here and an expansion there - and it only happened once. The genesis of The Universe was also not a field expansion - a dimensional plane did not manifesting all at once.

In truth I am unsure of the significance of point vs other alternatives. Shape being less important than recognition that something quite amazing happened once and is only known to have happened that once.

Our solar system - Sun and some of the planets - is 5 billion years old. Life is estimated to have emerged 4 billion years ago. The reference here is that Life emerges relatively soon in the sequence of things. Unique and wonderful - yet quick.

A constant current of thought in Evolutionary Biology is captured by the following - "The fundamental properties of the DNA replication process and the mechanisms used by the enzymes that catalyze is have proved to be essentially identical in all species. This mechanistic unity is a major theme as we proceed from general properties of the replication process, to E. coli replication enzymes, and, finally , to replication in eukaryotes."

This is the argument for Common Descent (it just smells wrong).

If everything is composed of the same stuff then they are related.

Our problem is explaining all The Randomness of Science.

Life is unique and yet quick, but happening only once. Everything is the same because it is so random?

Posted 2:32 PM by robert d

And In The Beginning

And that is THE PROBLEM - The Beginning. Science can do all kinds of amazing things once everything is in place, but it is the starting of things that cause concern. It is the starting of things that lacks clarity.

I am working on The Molecular Biology of The Gene.

Truth - The Gene is interesting but perhaps overrated. It is not The Gene that is of so much interest. The interest is in the entire linear sequence of nucleotides - DNA.

At present I am just taking a little of this and a little of that.

When DNA is preparing to duplicate - H bonds must be broken.

"In the prokaryotic bacterium E. coli, replication can occur at a rate of 1,000 nucleotides per second. In comparison, eukaryotic human DNA replicates at a rate of 50 nucleotides per second. In both cases, replication occurs so quickly because multiple polymerases can synthesize two new strands at the same time by using each unwound strand from the original DNA double helix as a template. One of these original strands is called the leading strand, whereas the other is called the lagging strand. The leading strand is synthesized continuously, as shown in Figure 5. In contrast, the lagging strand is synthesized in small, separate fragments that are eventually joined together to form a complete, newly copied strand."

I believe the numbers 1,000 vs 50 nucleotides per second are per cell. You wonder why E. coli can replicate DNA 20 times faster than a human?

Take this brother and may it serve thee well.

Posted 2:58 PM by robert d

Aroint and Anon

"I almost forgot," he told her. "All the best swords have names."

"Cows with names give the most milk."

Posted 12:46 PM by robert d

Time To Be Spaced

The greatest of pains have been taken to shield you from the fact that Science has no idea what Space is. They do all kinds of theses and thats and make muffins with raisins and such and at the end of it all there is no succinct definition of Space.

It may be that the mixing of space and time will be seen as a conceptual error.

Space is an independent variable.

Time is a dependent variable.

Posted 10:30 AM by robert d

(N+1) - Why Not More Diversity

With random mutation at the heart of your dogma you would expect more diversity.

"The discovery that DNA is the prime genetic molecule, carrying all the heredity information within chromosomes, immediately focused attention on its structure. It was hoped that knowledge of the structure would reveal how DNA carries the genetic messages that are replicated when chromosomes divide to produce two IDENTICAL copies of themselves. (The claim of identical copies is an insistent error that is continually repeated. Very similar yes. Identical - no. Lack of rigor is a characteristic occasionally found in discourse on evolutionary biology.) During the late 1940'S and early 1950'uus, several research groups in the US and Europe engaged in serious efforts - both cooperative and rival - to understand how the atoms of DNA linked together by covalent bonds and how the resulting molecules are arranged in three-dimensional space. Not surprisingly, there initially were fears the DNA might have very complicated and perhaps bizarre structures that differed radically from one gene to another."

There is more to the this quote and hopefully I will add it later. However, more important is to give form to The Questing Beast - the direction in which my mind is going.

It has been argued that stuff and especially Life is too complex to have arisen by chance. I am giving consideration to the antithesis - Life is too simple to have arisen by chance. Everywhere we look the same building blocks are used.

Posted 1:41 PM by robert d

RR

George R. R. Martin - wondering about the R. R. - A Game of Thrones - 1996.

Some will grok and some will not and that is just the way it is. Somewhat random and then again not.

"For centuries the Targaryens had married brother to sister."

In the beginning, is now, and ever shall be.

One of the things that makes all of this a lot different is that one can change things and see what they do and if the results are unpleasing - change.