TNRTB Archive - Retained for reference information
A team of biologists, geneticists, and biochemists have discovered another example of irreducible complexity in the hearing mechanism of animals. An irreducibly complex system is composed of several well-matched, interacting parts that contribute to the basic function, and where function ceases if any part is removed. They identified for the first time five different complex proteins that operate together to perform a process called mechanotransduction, by which cells convert mechanical stimuli into electrical signals. This conversion is the first step in sending a signal to the brain of how much and in what way a stereocilium (a hair-like filament that is the main sound detector in the inner ear) has been disturbed by the propagation of a sound wave. The team found that if any one of the five proteins is disabled or disturbed the stereocilia fall apart and the organism becomes deaf. Evolution cannot explain how all five proteins would arise through natural assembly at the right time, place, and configuration. A supernatural Creator seems necessary.
J. Siemens et al., “Cadherin 23 Is a Component of the Tip Link in Hair-Cell Sterocilia,” Nature, 428 (2004), pp. 950-955; Christian Söllner, et al, “Mutations in Cadherin 23 Affect Tip Links in Zebrafish Sensory Hair Cells,” Nature, 428 (2004), pp. 955-959; David R. Corey and Marcos Sotomayor, “Tightrope Act,” Nature, 428 (2004), pp. 901-903.
http://www.nature.com/ cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v428/n6986/abs/nature02483 _fs.html
http://www.nature.com/ cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v428/n6986/abs/nature02484 _fs.html
RTB article: Facts for Faith articles on biological evolution