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Life On Mars Could Have Come From Earth!
Recently, the headlines are filled with statements from NASA that soil on Mars may contain microbial life. What if this is true after all? Would such a discovery confirm that life had evolved on Mars. No.
Even if we do find evidence of life on Mars it would have most likely have come from our very own planet - Earth! In the Earth's past there was powerful volcanic activity which could have easily spewed rock and dirt containing microbes into outer space much of which eventually could have reached Mars. A Newsweek article of September 21, 1998, p.12 mentions exactly this possibility.
"We think there's about 7 million tons of earth soil sitting on Mars", says scientist Kenneth Nealson. "You have to consider the possibility that if we find life on Mars, it could have come from the Earth" [Weingarten, T., Newsweek, September 21, 1998, p.12].
This would also explain, as MIT scientist Dr. Walt Brown has pointed out, why some meteorites contain organic compounds because they are remnants of the original debris spewed from the Earth due to very fierce ancient geological disturbances and activity.
There is no scientific basis for believing life could have arisen by chance processes on Mars or Earth even if given the right environmental conditions to sustain life.
In the midst of arguments over evolution and intelligent design, it is amazing how many in society, including the very educated, believe that scientists had already created life in the laboratory. No such thing has ever happened.
All that scientists have done is genetically engineer already existing forms of life in the laboratory, and by doing this scientists have been able to produce new forms of life, but they did not produce these new life forms from non-living matter. Even if scientists ever do produce life from non-living matter it will only be through intelligent design or planning so it still wouldn't help support any theory of life originating by chance or evolution.
Even artificial, or synthetic life, is a creation by scientists, through intelligent design, of a DNA code built from "scratch" which is then inserted into an already existing living cell.
If the cell had evolved it would have had to be all at once. A partially evolved cell cannot wait millions of years to become complete because it would be highly unstable and quickly disintegrate in the open environment, especially without the protection of a complete and fully functioning cell membrane.
Of course, once there is a complete and living cell then the biological mechanisms exist to direct the formation of more cells. The question is how could life have arisen naturally when there was no directing mechanism at all in Nature.
The great British scientist Sir Frederick Hoyle has said that the probability of the sequence of molecules in the simplest cell coming into existence by chance is equivalent to a tornado going through a junk yard of airplane parts and assembling a 747 Jumbo Jet!
Although, it has been shown that individual amino acids can arise by chance, it has never been shown that the various amino acids can bind together into a sequence by chance to form protein molecules. Even the simplest cell is composed of many millions of various protein molecules.
There is no innate chemical tendency for the various amino acids to bond with one another in a sequence. Any one amino acid can just as easily bond with any other. The only reason at all for why the various amino acids bond with one another in a precise sequence in the cells of our bodies is because they're directed to do so by an already existing sequence of molecules found in our genetic code. In order to function, amino acids must be in a precise sequence, just like the letters found in a sentence.
Stanley Miller, in 1953, only showed that individual amino acids can come into existence by chance, not that they could come together in a sequence by chance. Also, what many don’t realize is that Miller had a laboratory apparatus that shielded the amino acids the moment they were produced, otherwise the amino acids would have quickly disintegrated and been destroyed in the mix of random energy and forces that were involved in Miller’s experiment.
Natural laws are adequate to explain how the order in life, the universe, and even a microwave oven operates, but mere undirected natural laws cannot fully explain the origin of such order.
The best little article ever written refuting the origin of life by chance is "A Few Reasons an Evolutionary Origin of Life Is Impossible" by scientist and biochemist Dr. Duane T. Gish. Dr. Gish presents "simple" but profound scientific barriers to evolution of life which aren't mentioned or covered in Johnny's high school biology textbook or in college textbooks for that matter. This article is truly great! Dr. Gish's aricle may be accessed at: http://icr.org/article/3140/.
All this simply means that real science supports faith in an intelligent Designer behind the origin of life and the universe. It is only fair that evidence supporting intelligent design be presented to students alongside of evolutionary theory.
Science cannot prove that we're here by either chance or design. Both require faith. Where will you place your faith?
*The writer, Babu G. Ranganathan, has his B.A. degree with concentrations in theology and biology and has been recognized for his writings on religion and science in the 24th edition of Marquis Who's Who In The East. The author’s website may be accessed at www.religionscience.com.
May 28, 2008 at 10:40 am by Babu G. Ranganathan, 1326 views, 7 comments





Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (7)
at 11:20 on May 28th, 2008
Babu G. Ranganathan, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 12:25 on May 28th, 2008
Babu G. Ranganathan,
We are in for many, many changes about what we think we know. We're learning though.
I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 13:21 on May 28th, 2008
This is a very interesting story.
at 06:37 on June 1st, 2008
Babu G. Ranganathan, I like this story. It's good stuff. Interesting theory to an excellent story
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gregsmediamall (not verified)at 16:34 on July 15th, 2008
I like your story, thought provoking! Wondering where it all began can give one a headache!
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Ross W (not verified)at 07:21 on August 4th, 2008
Intelligent design is not science. It's the belief that some kind of supernatural force is responsible for everything in existence, but science, by definition, is the opposite of the supernatural. Science involves deduction and hypothesizing, proving facts. Intelligent design requires, at some point, a leap of faith.
at 15:40 on August 12th, 2008
naw.... life on earth came from mars....cause they got that planet screwed up and barren first.