When Nobel Laureate Jack Szostak claimed to have discovered a way to make ribonucleic acid (RNA) replicate itself, the finding was hailed as proof that the theory of evolution must be true. After all, if RNA can replicate itself without outside help, it is possible that the universe and everything in it was formed on its own, without the assistance of a Creator.
Unfortunately for evolutionists, the findings were not as conclusive as Jack Szostak and his team has initially claimed and his paper on the subject was officially retracted earlier this month.
Jack Szostak is best known for his work with genetics. He played a key role in helping scientists develop techniques for manipulating genes and mapping the location of genes in mammals and later won a Nobel Prize for his research in the field of aging. After this award, he turned his attention to better understanding the origin of life on Earth.
It is not surprising that he focused his attention on replicating RNA as many evolutionists believe that RNA was one of the first molecules to develop but are stumped by the fact that it would need its own enzymes in order to replicate. Jack Szostak and his team were looking into possible ways that RNA could assemble itself by irradiating materials that ostensibly would have been present on earth at the time of its formation. The ultimate goal of the research was to show that RNA would be able to copy itself and even evolve before the appearance of DNA and/or other proteins, thus showing that life could originate by itself.
In the course of their research, Jack Szostak and his team came across a certain type of peptide that appeared to make it possible for RNA to replicate itself. The finding was published in the Nature Chemistry journal and Jack Szostak basked in his joy at finding a solution to a pesky scientific quandary that has plagued evolutionists for the last half-century.
Unfortunately for him, his seemingly foolproof solution to the origin of life problem was dashed when a colleague was unable to replicate the experiment. Tivoli Olsen, a member of Jack Szostak’s laboratory, attempted to reproduce the experiment but was unable to. As she closely examined Jack Szostak’s work, she discovered that Jack Szostak and his team had made serious mistakes in their work. The peptide that could supposedly cause RNA to replicate on its own was unable to provide the right environment for this feat to take place.
Jack Szostak was disheartened to learn that his experiments were in fact a failure. He noted that he was blinded in his belief in his findings and did not examine the evidence as carefully as he should have. It was an odd statement coming from a man who has derided belief systems based on faith as being inherently dangerous. Jack Szostak admitted his mistakes and had his paper retracted from Nature Chemistry.
At least he can take comfort in the fact that he is not the only scientist to have come up with a seemingly incredible discovery that cannot be replicated by others in the scientific community. In fact, there is a replication crisis of sorts sweeping the scientific community across the nation. The overwhelming majority of discoveries in field such as physics, psychology and medicine cannot be reproduced as human error, outright fraud and/or blind faith lead scientists and doctors who publish these studies in the first place to come to inaccurate conclusions. What is more, inaccurate studies are often promoted with a great deal of hype but then retracted quietly so that as few people as possible will know that the studies were erroneous in the first place.
Science has its place and there is certainly much that humanity can learn from studying nature and how it works. At the same time, the unending quest to discover a way for life to have created itself without the assistance of a Higher Power is doomed to failure. Science has never been able to show a way in which life could have originated on its own even though it has attempted to do so for many decades.
The mystery of the origin of life remains elusive to those who are not willing to accept the fact that matter has never been able to create itself from nothing and Intelligent Design is the best explanation for how the universe and everything in it came to be.
~ Christian Patriot Daily
