DNA & Design Series by Dr Gasser Hathout

Lecture 5:  Introducing the Digital Code.  Building on the previous lectures which showed that DNA is essentially a digital code for storing information, and that this code can be affected by mutations, this lecture introduces the idea of optimality of  a code in general, and begins looking at DNA in particular.  All codes that transmit information can be analyzed in terms of how well they do their job.  In the case of DNA, one key question is how faithfully it can transmit its information in the face of possible mutations.

This multi-lecture series takes an in depth look at DNA, the repository of genetic information, and makes the case that DNA speaks strongly for intelligent and deliberate design, and against a random origin of life on earth, which has been the prevalent dogma in the biological sciences.  The series asserts that as we learn more about the structure and function of DNA, incorporating the advances of the last two decades, the stronger this case becomes.  The series begins illustrating this paradigm—that advances in knowledge often overturn previously accepted dogmas – by looking at a macro issue where this has happened: the vertebrate retina.  The series then moves to introduce the viewer to the genetic code and how it works, and tackles such issues as the optimality of the genetic code, the  myth of junk DNA, the information enigma of DNA, and the “chicken-and-egg,” problem of DNA and proteins.  All of this is done using primary scientific source literature, and numerous papers and books are referenced.  If you love science, and are interested in how scientific advances make the case for the handiwork of a Divine Intellect, this series will be of interest to you.