Tag: Last Universal Common Ancestor

^{Type
post

Date
August 12, 2026

Categories
Evolution
Zoology
Tagged
, Chordata, chordates, common ancestor, evolution, genomes, hominid, Homo sapiens, inference, Last Universal Common Ancestor, LUCA, mammals, Metazoa, Network of Life, ontology, organisms, Pan troglodytes, paragraphs, phylogenetic inference, phylogenetics, phylogeny, species, statistical noise, Systematic Biology, systematics, traits, Tree of Life}

Testing Phylogenetic Hypotheses: A Question for You

_{Science & Culture
August 12, 2026

Evolution, Zoology

2}

You can read this proposition a dozen times over and still be unable to say what it disallows in phylogenetic inference. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Casey Luskin

Date
August 11, 2026

Categories
Evolution
Origin of Life
Tagged
, abiotic chemical reactions, amino acids, archaea, bacteria, cellular organism, cofactors, common ancestry, environment, enzymatic metabolism, enzymes, evolutionary biologists, homology, hydrothermal vent, last archaeal common ancestor, Last Bacterial Common Ancestor, Last Universal Common Ancestor, lineages, LUCA, nucleobases, organic molecules, origin of life, Science Advances, Smithsonian Magazine, universal common ancestry}

Enzymes in Bacteria and Archaea Are So Dissimilar There Must Be “Two Origins of Life”

_{Casey Luskin
August 11, 2026

Evolution, Origin of Life

7}

Don’t get distracted by wondering how the extreme heat near a vent (a toasty 750° F or more inside the vent) wouldn’t quickly break down organic molecules. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Jonathan McLatchie

Date
January 5, 2026

Categories
Earth Sciences
Origin of Life
Planetology
Tagged
, AlphaFold, atmosphere, biochemistry, biological complexity, chance, disorder, entropy, Francis Crick, Imperial College London, informational content, intelligence, intelligent design, Last Universal Common Ancestor, Leslie Orgel, LUCA, molecular assembly, origin of life, panspermia, physical biasing, primitive earth, protocell, Robert E. Endres, universe, water, zircon}

New Paper Argues for the “Unreasonable Likelihood of Being”

_{Jonathan McLatchie
January 5, 2026

Earth Sciences, Origin of Life, Planetology

5}

How long did life have to get started? Endres notes that life on earth could not have emerged until after two early global sterilizing impacts. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Date
September 15, 2025

Categories
Intelligent Design
Origin of Life
Tagged
, ancient Earth, cells, chemistry, frustration, Georgia Tech, intelligent design, Last Universal Common Ancestor, life, lipids, LUCA, molecules, NASA, National Science Foundation, nucleic acids, ocean, organic chemistry, polysaccharides, proteins, ribosomes, water, YouTube videos}

Origin-of-Life Researcher at Georgia Tech Picks Up the Design Signal in Biopolymers

_{Science & Culture
September 15, 2025

Intelligent Design, Origin of Life

3}

You will hear one word, over and over in this remarkable talk, that has stolen the place, or taken the credit, for what is undeniable evidence of design. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Cornelius Hunter

Date
August 6, 2025

Categories
Computational Sciences
Evolution
Intelligent Design
Tagged
, amino acids, artificial inteligence, evolution, evolutionary process, fitness landscape, Last Universal Common Ancestor, LUCA, PNAS, protein folds, proteins, researchers, sampling bias, simulation tool}

False Science: A Claim to Simulate Protein Evolution

_{Cornelius Hunter
August 6, 2025

Computational Sciences, Evolution, Intelligent Design

4}

The researchers designed a simulation tool, and then falsely claimed that it represents the evolutionary process. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Otangelo Grasso

Date
December 15, 2024

Categories
Evolution
Intelligent Design
Origin of Life
Tagged
, amino acids, Brian Miller, building blocks, calculations, chance, jackpot, James Tour, Last Universal Common Ancestor, Long Story Short, metabolism, National Center for Biotechnology Information, Phys.org, Powerball, proteins, proteome, protocells, Quanta Magazine, Rice University, RNA world, self-organization, University of North Carolina}

Let’s Throw Mathematical Light on the Origin of Life

_{Otangelo Grasso
December 15, 2024

Evolution, Intelligent Design, Origin of Life

11}

If researchers really were making progress, wouldn’t that mean they would be converging on the same truth? Yet they are not. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Andrew McDiarmid

Date
December 3, 2024

Categories
Evolution
Intelligent Design
Origin of Life
Technology
Tagged
, biosphere, Casey Luskin, complexity, early Earth, evolution, evolutionary theory, ID the Future, information, intelligent design, Last Universal Common Ancestor, life, LUCA, molecular clock studies, non-life, podcast}

New Study Triggers Key Origin of Life Questions

_{Andrew McDiarmid
December 3, 2024

Evolution, Intelligent Design, Origin of Life, Technology

2}

The leap from non-life to life represents a huge jump in complexity and information, one that cannot be explained by reference to a stepwise, gradual process. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Casey Luskin

Date
August 8, 2024

Categories
Biology
Evolution
Intelligent Design
Origin of Life
Technology
Tagged
, archaea, ATP, bacteria, complexity, ecosystem, evolution, genes, genome, Immune System, intelligent design, Last Universal Common Ancestor, LUCA, metabolism, molecular biology, Nature Ecology & Evolution, prokaryotes, protein-coding genes, Science (journal), viruses, Washington Post}

“That Is a Lot of Evolution”: Study Finds LUCA Required 2,600 Genes

_{Casey Luskin
August 8, 2024

Biology, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Origin of Life, Technology

5}

One scientist commented, “LUCA was a very complex cell, with a genome similar to modern bacteria." Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Casey Luskin

Date
July 18, 2024

Categories
Biology
Evolution
Intelligent Design
Origin of Life
Tagged
, amino acids, astrobiology, bacteria, Canada, cell division, common ancestry, common design, DNA replication, eukaryotes, fossil record, genetic code, genomes, Greenland, intelligent design, Last Universal Common Ancestor, LUCA, Nature Ecology and Evolution, prokaryotes, Ribosome, ScienceAlert, Stephen Jay Gould}

Study Finds Life’s Origin “Required a Surprisingly Short Interval of Geologic Time”

_{Casey Luskin
July 18, 2024

Biology, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Origin of Life

6}

It’s certainly not impossible that life was already present on Earth at 4.2 Ga. And if it were true it would have intriguing implications. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Daniel Witt

Date
June 28, 2024

Categories
Biology
Evolution
Intelligent Design
Tagged
, archaea, bacteria, biological systems, cooption, Darwin's Black Box, Darwinian evolution, evolution, Evolution “On Purpose”, Immanuel Kant, intelligent design, Irreducible Complexity, Joana Xavier, Last Universal Common Ancestor, life, LUCA, Michael Behe, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Stuart Kauffman}

“Irreducible Complexity” May Be Part of the Definition of Life

_{Daniel Witt
June 28, 2024

Biology, Evolution, Intelligent Design

9}

There are many bad counter-arguments to Michael Behe’s famous irreducible complexity conundrum, and (in my opinion) one pretty good one. Read More ›