Intelligent Design Investigation

Explore the Evidence

The Inference to Intelligent Design  •  12 evidence records
A Visit With Jesus

This investigation draws upon 12 related evidence records. They are grouped below according to the part of the investigation they help us examine. Select any record for a closer look at the observation, scientific background, significance, uncertainties, and its relevance to Intelligent Design.

Conditions That Make Life Possible

Cosmic Condition

The Cosmological Constant

The cosmological constant is connected with the accelerated expansion of the universe. Its observed value is very small compared with values that might be expected from some theories of particle physics.
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Integrated System

The Combined Requirements for Complex Life

Earth's habitability results from many interacting systems rather than from one remarkable property. The larger question is how a suitable star, orbit, water, atmosphere, chemistry, planetary structure, climate, and geological history work together over time.
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Information and the Origin of Life

Information Replication

The Origin of Biological Information

The sequence of nucleotides in genetic molecules affects their structure and function. Origin-of-life research therefore includes the question of how useful sequence-dependent information first emerged and became heritable.
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Integrated System

From Chemistry to an Evolvable Living System

The central origin-of-life problem is ultimately one of integration: how prebiotic chemistry produced a bounded system in which information, replication, chemical function, energy use, and reproduction worked together well enough for Darwinian evolution to begin.
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Biological Information

Functional Information in DNA Sequences

The biological importance of DNA depends upon particular sequences performing useful functions. Some sequences specify molecular products, while others help regulate when and where those products are produced.
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Integrated System

Biological Information as an Integrated System

Biological information operates through an integrated system. DNA stores sequences, genes are transcribed into RNA, codons are interpreted through adaptor molecules, amino acids are selected and attached, ribosomes translate sequences into proteins, and multiple mechanisms maintain sufficient fidelity for the system to function.
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Machinery and Integrated Systems

Molecular Machines

Molecular Machines in the Cell

Cells contain organized molecular systems that perform mechanical and chemical tasks such as rotation, transport, synthesis, movement, and controlled assembly.
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Design Assessment

Can Molecular Machines Be Built Step by Step?

The central historical question is whether known evolutionary processes can account for the progressive origin of coordinated molecular machines and integrated cellular systems.
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Natural Processes and Their Explanatory Reach

Experimental Innovation

The Lenski Citrate Innovation

In Richard Lenski's long-term evolution experiment, one population of Escherichia coli evolved the ability to exploit citrate under aerobic experimental conditions, providing a detailed case study of evolutionary innovation.
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Design Assessment

From Observed Change to Major Innovation

Evolutionary mechanisms produce observable genetic and phenotypic change. The final question is how evidence from those processes bears upon the origin of major new structures, systems, and forms of biological organization.
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Recognizing Patterns of Design

Engineering Analogy

Engineering Analogies in Biology

Scientists frequently use concepts such as control, feedback, circuits, networks, error correction, robustness, and modularity to describe biological systems.
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Design Assessment

Do Engineering-Like Patterns Indicate Design?

Living systems contain feedback, error correction, robustness, modularity, information processing, and integrated regulation. The final question is whether these patterns provide evidence of purposeful organization.
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  Evidence records distinguish observations from proposed explanations and areas that remain uncertain.