Spokane Chapter, Reasons To Believe
January, 2005 Newsletter
Table of Contents:
- Chapter Meeting: Sunday, January 16, 3-5pm
- Discovery Institute Launches Evolution Blog
- Chimpanzees and Humans: Are We Related?
- Who We Are and What We Do: Your Local Reasons To Believe Chapter
- Contact Information
- Resources To Know About
Chapter Meeting: Sunday, January 16,
We invite you to attend our monthly meeting. A presentation is offered to the group, followed by discussion and questions, and we conclude with snacks and a little club business.
We always try to start and end our meetings right on time. If you need directions, don’t be afraid to call the phone number below.
- Date: Sunday, January 16
- Time:
- Hosts: Dan and Cathy Bakken
- Location:
- Phone: 466-2693 (for directions, etc.)
Discovery Institute Launches Evolution Blog
The Discovery Institute has just launched a new blog on the Internet called “Evolution News and Views”. You’ll find it at www.evolutionnews. org. This blog (a web site usually updated very frequently with news or opinions on a certain topic) focuses on the misreporting of evolution in the media. They will critique and correct major news stories on evolution.
“We’re going to use this blog to inform, analyze, and expose how the news media cover --and fail to cover-- the scientific controversy over Darwinian evolution,” said Rob Crowther, DI’s director of communications.
Chimpanzees and Humans: Are We Related?
By Cathy
Bakken, RTB
It’s easy to be convinced that humans and chimpanzees are related, when the media reports that there is up to a 99.4% genetic similarity between the two species. It’s often seen as a proof for evolution. However, the evidence is much more complex than the media presents.
According to evolutionists, chimpanzees are our closest relatives. They don’t claim that humans evolved from chimps, but that both creatures shared a common ancestor that lived in the African rainforest about 6-8 million years ago. The descendants of this common ancestor split into two lineages: one that led to chimps and another that led to us.
Genetic Similarity?
In 2003 evolutionary biologist Morris Goodman and his team examined 97 genes – one of the most extensive human-chimp gene-to-gene comparisons made up to that time—and announced that in 99.4% of their genetic material is identical. Goodman argued, “We humans appear as only slightly remodeled chimpanzee-like apes.”
However, there are some problems with this research. First of all, Goodman compared regions of the human and chimpanzee genome already known to be identical. He also focused on only one type of genetic difference: substitutions. A true comparison would have examined the entire genome of humans and chimpanzees and considered all types of genetic differences, not just substitutions. At this time that kind of comparison isn’t possible, but will be in the near future. And other studies are hinting that humans and chimpanzees are really a lot more different.
For example, one study found only 86.7% genetic
similarity when segments of human and chimpanzee DNA (totaling 1,870,955 base
pairs) were laid side by side.(Tatsuya Anzai et al., "Comparative Sequencing of Human and
Chimpanzee MHC Class I Regions Unveils Insertions/Deletions As the Major Path to
Genomic Divergence," Proceedings of the National
Gene expression
Genes are segments of DNA strands. Each gene contains the plans for specific parts of a cell, and the tools needed to build those parts. While a high degree of genetic similarity between humans and chimps exists, the way in which these genes are used - gene expression - differs.
Gene expression refers to how each cell uses its genes to build itself and the organism it is a part of. In each cell, some genes are ‘turned on’ and others are ‘turned off’. That’s how an organism has different types of cells making up different types of tissues and organs for different purposes – e.g. muscle cells, bone cells, nerve cells, etc.
Here are several examples of how gene expression differs between chimpanzees and humans.
1. Chromosome Comparison
In
an article in Nature on
When comparing the human and chimpanzee chromosomes, they found that there are nearly 68,000 insertions or deletions of small to large stretches of DNA that are different from one species to the other. These differences aresufficient to generate changes in most of the proteins that the DNA codes for. About 20% of the genes show significant variations in their expression. These findings suggest that there may well be thousands of genes that either encode an altered protein or are expressed differently in humans and chimpanzees.
2. Brain Activity
In a 2004 study, researchers noted significant differences in gene usage for the anterior cingulated cortex of humans and chimpanzees. This brain region displays high levels of activity during cognitive tasks. Researchers think that this may explain the profound differences between human and chimpanzee brain function. (Monica Uddin et al., “Sister Grouping of Chimpanzees and Humans as Revealed by Genome-Wide Phylogenetic Analysis of Brain Gene Expression Profiles,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 101 (2004), 2957-62.)
3. ‘Junk DNA’
In another 2004 study, researchers discovered one way in which humans and chimpanzees’ genetic material is different in a dramatic way. A form of ‘junk DNA’ called ‘alu repeats’ was formerly thought to be a useless piece of DNA interspersed along the DNA molecule. Now, however, we understand they are an important binding site for ‘bridging proteins’ that hold two strands of DNA together during the replication process.
The researchers identified nine AluYb8 DNA repeats (a particular class of Alu DNA repeats) in the chimpanzee genome, compared to over 2200 repeats in the human. To quote the researchers, “This explosive Alu expansion must have had a profound effect on the organization of our genome and the architecture of our chromosomes, inferentially altering profiles of gene expression and chromosome choreography in cell division. Additionally, we conclude that this major evolutionary process of Alu proliferation is driven by internal forces, written in the chemistry of DNA, rather than by external selection.” (Rosaleen Gibbons et al., "Distinguishing Humans from Great Apes with AluYb8 Repeats," Journal of Molecular Biology 339 (2004): 721-29.)
Small Differences Have Huge Impacts
Even if there are major genetic similarities between humans and chimps, those differences can make ‘all the difference’. For example, a study published in 2003 compared 7600 genes shared by humans and chimpanzees. They discovered over 3,000 small differences between the two sets of genes (roughly 1500 differences to each species), which led to major differences between humans and chimpanzees in terms of skeletal development, hearing capacity and the ability to interpret sounds, amino acids to do with metabolism, and the sense of smell. (Pennisi, Humans, “Chimps Wear Different Genes”, Science NOW 2003: 1).
The researchers explained these changes in terms of evolution and natural selection, but the number of changes and the relatively short time period over which evolutionists believe they must have occurred challenges the evolutionary paradigm.
After all, for every genetic mutation that leads to an increase in survivability for a creature, there are 10,000 or more negative mutations. Mutation tends to lead to extinction, not to advancement of a species.
Conclusion
So we can see that a high degree of genetic similarity doesn’t necessarily mean that humans and chimpanzees are closely related. We’ve seen that the 99.4% genetic similarity is a premature announcement, pending the chimpanzee genome’s completion. We’ve seen that how genes are used by humans and chimpanzees is very important. And we’ve seen that even small genetic differences can lead to huge impacts.
Genetic comparison is not the sole criterion for comparing humans and chimpanzees. There are obvious anatomical, physiological, behavioral, and cultural differences that point to the conclusion that humans and chimps should be classified separately, not together. Those differences are what genetic research is starting to explain. And as they do so, we can understand the creative powers of a God who controls the world both macroscopically and microscopically.
Who We Are and What We Do: Your Local Reasons To Believe Chapter
- We’re here to answer your questions and help local Christians and churches get more answers about science and the bible issues.
- We offer trained apologists and bring in national speakers to speak at local churches and other events to share these exciting discoveries.
- We build alliances with churches, ministries, and groups to share the Reasons To Believe message.
- We help Christians overcome their fear of science and equip them to use it as an effective tool in spreading the Gospel.
- We reach out to skeptics and non-believers with gentleness and respect, encouraging them to evaluate their worldviews.
Contact Information
For more information about the Reasons To Believe Spokane Chapter, contact:
- Phone: Ray Luse (509) 465-8562
- Email:
- Web Page: http://www.reasons.org/chapters/spokane/index.shtml
- Newsletter Questions? Cathy Bakken, editor, cgbakken@yahoo.com
Resources To Know About:
Reasons To Believe Website: www.reasons.org. Many useful documents are available, as well as their daily new “reason to believe” from the latest scientific research.
Reasons’ Web Store. Buy the books you read about here! http://store.reasons.org/
Reasons Institute. RTB’s online distance learning program. Take college-level apologetics courses. Contact RTB for information at 626-335-1480. www.reasonsinstitute.com.
Reasons To Believe television show. Thursday mornings, 3:00 A.M. Pacific time on TBN. An archive of recent shows is at www.reasons.org.
Creation Update Web Radio Show. http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/creation_update/Archives.asp.
