We have talked about how molecules are made up of elements or atoms. There is an additional level of complexity of how these different atoms are joined together in three dimensions to make a molecule. A common example is the carbon atom which is in organic molecule which is basic for life. The carbon atom can make 4 bonds to other atoms. Interestingly however, there are two ways that these bonds can be made to the same atoms. It has to do with the three dimensional configuration of the bonds and how the different atoms in a molecule are arranged. This is like being right or left handed. This property of molecules that is called chirality is that the two molecules are what is called ‘nonsuperimposable forms’ that are mirror images of one another, just like left and right hands.
The fascinating aspect of this is that in life there is only one of these two that is used in life! Since they have the same bonds and the same atoms in the molecule we would expect equal parts of right and left handed molecules. There should be just as many right handed molecules as left handed molecules. This is because each molecule has all of the same atoms or elements in them, they are only different in how the atoms and elements are bound together to make the molecules.
Shockingly, we do not find this in life. What we do find has not, and cannot be explained. All amino acids (which make our proteins) are left handed and all of our sugars are right handed. This is more precisely discussed in scientific language as L-amino acids and D-sugars, where “L” and “D” are used to describe right or left handedness. How odd is this? If these molecules are made in a lab by combining all of the needed atoms and conditions, equal amounts of right and left are made for both amino acids and sugars. But life only has left handed amino acids and only has right handed sugars. How can this be explained with the random chance events of evolution? It can’t!
The article “The Origin of Biologic Homochirality published in Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology discusses this topic because “this work arises from an interest in understanding the origin of life, because the homochirality of biological molecules is a signature of life”. They conclude with encouragement to continue research efforts “Whether or not we will ever know how this property developed in the living systems represented on Earth today”. When they conclude with statements like “Whether or not we will ever know”, they clearly do not know now, and have very real doubts if they will ever know.
The fact that this is completely unexplained is more succinctly stated in the article “The early Earth atmosphere and early life catalysts” published in the journal Metal Ions in Life Sciences. In this scientific communication from evolutionists to evolutionists we are told that “Homochirality is a property of living systems on Earth. The time, the place, and the way in which it appeared are uncertain”. Even more revealing of how desperate this problem is for evolutionists is this statement that “A definitive answer can probably never be given, neither from the fields of physics and chemistry nor biology”.
Evolutionists are just simply stumped! There is no explanation of the origin of chiral molecules in life. Creationists cannot argue with what the evolutionists are saying about this because the evolutionists have no expectation and admit that they may never know. Many topics presented in this book are unexplained. Often we have ‘promises’ from evolutionists that they will someday be able to explain some of these. This however, is an example where the evolutionists do not think they ever will be able to figure it out. It just seems impossible to have developed by random chance events, which is the requirement of evolution for evolution to be true.
Evolution cannot be true if chiral biologic molecules could not have formed with evolution. It is a necessary condition.
Yet, it is a published fact in peer reviewed scientific journals that the origin of chiral biologic molecules is unexplained.
Both right and left handed people can think ambidextrously and use both sides of the brain to realize:
If there is no way chiral biologic molecules could have formed with evolution, then evolution logically cannot be possible.