Cell complexity suggests design, professor says

Cell complexity suggests design, professor says
Friday, February 18, 2005
CANDICE WILLIAMS
The Express-Times

BETHLEHEM -- Evolution might not be able to explain the complex inner structure of cells, a leading biological sciences professor said Thursday.

A packed house at Lehigh University's Linderman Library listened to Professor Michael J. Behe present challenging questions that put Charles Darwin's theory of evolution under the microscope.

Behe is a leading proponent of the theory of intelligent design, which holds that some higher power or guiding force created life. Intelligent design opponents say it is just another name for creationism, or the idea that God created and directs the march of species.

Behe is a tenured Lehigh biochemist who wrote a provocative 1996 best seller titled "Darwin's Black Box."

In his hour-long lecture, followed by another hour-long question-and-answer period, Behe, a Catholic, asked students to consider alternative theories before finding one to support or refute their personal beliefs about evolution.

In his book, Behe suggests the complexity of a cell, with all its unique working parts, may be the creation of an intelligent design -- not an accident of chemistry and physics.

Citing the drama of such biological wonders as the way blood clots, Behe said all of a cell's functions must work in unison for a cell to be effective.

"Can such complexities as a cell be a freak of nature or the product of intelligent design?" Behe asked. "Evolution explains some things. But nothing explains the elegant structures of a cell."

Behe's theories have raised the ire of many in the scientific community who have continued to stand steadfast by all of Darwin's research. Behe defended his research by highlighting several of his critics and then countering their criticisms with his own research.

Behe said he would not refute or disagree with much of Darwin's research or some of Darwin's theory. However, Behe suggests the study of evolution has been blown wide open by recent advances in molecular science, including the discovery of DNA.

Current research will fuel the debate for years to come, he said.



Cell complexity suggests design, professor says