The Myth of Junk DNA [Paperback]

Jonathan Wells Ph.D. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 31, 2011

According to the modern version of Darwin’s theory, DNA contains a program for embryo development that is passed down from generation to generation; the program is implemented by proteins encoded by the DNA, and accidental DNA mutations introduce changes in those proteins that natural selection then shapes into new species, organs and body plans. When scientists discovered forty years ago that about 98% of our DNA does not encode proteins, the non-protein-coding portion was labeled “junk” and attributed to molecular accidents that have accumulated in the course of evolution.

Recent books by Richard Dawkins, Francis Collins and others have used this “junk DNA” as evidence for Darwinian evolution and evidence against intelligent design (since an intelligent designer would presumably not have filled our genome with so much garbage). But recent genome evidence shows that much of our non-protein-coding DNA performs essential biological functions.

The Myth of Junk DNA is written for a general audience by biologist Jonathan Wells, author of Icons of Evolution. Citing some of the abundant evidence from recent genome projects, the book shows that “junk DNA” is not science, but myth.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jonathan Wells has received two Ph.D.s, one in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California at Berkeley, and one in Religious Studies from Yale University. He has worked as a postdoctoral research biologist at the University of California at Berkeley and the supervisor of a medical laboratory in Fairfield, California. Dr. Wells is also the author of Charles Hodge's Critique of Darwinism (Edwin Mellen Press, 1988), Icons of Evolution: Why much of what we teach about evolution is wrong (Regnery Publishing, 2000), and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design (Regnery, 2006).

Product Details

• Paperback: 150 pages
• Publisher: Discovery Institute Press; 1st Edition edition (May 31, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1936599007
• ISBN-13: 978-1936599004
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.4 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #178,017 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

125 of 154 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Another "Icon" of Darwinian Evolution Bites the Dust April 29, 2011

By Erasmus

Format:Paperback

In recent years, a number of leading boosters of Neo-Darwinism have claimed that much of our genome is filled with functionless "junk DNA." They go on to claim that this "junk DNA" provides definitive proof that the genome is the product of a blind and undirected Darwinian process rather than purposeful (intelligent) design.

But what if so-called "junk DNA" is not junk at all? In this meticulously documented book, molecular biologist Jonathan Wells (previous author of Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth? Why Much of What We Teach About Evolution Is Wrong) presents a growing flood of research that is showing the widespread functionality of DNA previously dismissed by leading Darwinists as little more than genetic garbage. For non-scientists, some of the detail provided here may be tough-sledding. But Wells does his best to make things clear even for those who may not have a detailed understanding of modern genetics, and his book includes a helpful glossary of key terms as well as 17 black and white illustrations. Chapter 9 provides a useful (and understandable!) summary of the case for functionality in "junk DNA." For scientifically-inclined readers, Wells' careful distillation in Chapters 3-8 of hundreds of recent journal articles documenting various functions for so-called "junk DNA" will be extremely valuable.

Apart from the cutting-edge science contained here, this book will be eye-opening to many people for exposing in Chapter 2 just how outdated and slipshod many "leading" evolutionists have been in their claims about "junk DNA," including figures like Francis Collins, Jerry Coyne at the University of Chicago, John Avise at the University of California, Philip Kitcher at Columbia University, Ken Miller at Brown University, and Michael Shermer at Scientific American.

75 of 97 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Primer on Science v. Rhetoric May 3, 2011

By Fritz R. Ward TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

As exploration began to reveal the full extent of the human genome in the 1970s, it was discovered, much to the shock of early researchers, that only a small portion of our DNA served explicitly to fold proteins. What did the rest of it do? More than a few researchers proposed that most of our genome was "junk," relics of an evolutionary past that served no current function. Despite the caution of some geneticists, who wisely suggested that junk DNA was merely a category representing the limits of our understanding, several self proclaimed spokesmen for science pounced on the idea that junk DNA was in fact proof that popular alternatives to Darwinian evolution were simply wrong. Like an earlier generation of biologists who harped on "vestigal" organs as a proof against design, writers such as Richard Dawkins, Michael Shermer, Francis Collins, Jerry Coyne, Douglas Futuyama, Philip Kitchner, and Kenneth Miller picked up the argument for junk DNA as part of their rhetorical arsenal against Intelligent Design. As this book illustrates, however, they were premature in doing so. Much of what was originally thought to be "junk" in fact serves a purpose.

The bulk of Well's latest book is a summation of hundreds of articles dealing with the non protein coding portions of DNA. Indeed, the small print endnotes to the book make up more than a quarter of its total pages. But in general, Wells finds two lines of evidence that these DNA sequences are indeed functional. The first is that these sequences are ultra conserved, both in humans and other animals. If they were truly non-functional, we would expect that they would gradually deteriorate and be subject to a greater number of mutations than the DNA which we know to be functional. But in fact, this is not the case. This line of evidence, of course, is indirect. But a more direct line of evidence is found in the number of positive functions that have been uncovered. Apparently repetitive sequences of DNA, for example, serve to deactivate one of the two X chromosomes in female mammals to promote healthy development. Other functions, including RNA coding, are common.

Taken as a whole, this book is a useful summary of the current literature. But what does this mean for the wider reading public? Does this book "prove" intelligent design? Actually no. Indeed, as Wells openly acknowledges, most of the articles written against the notion of junk DNA are written by biologists who accept the paradigm of evolution. Indeed, a major source of the argument against junk DNA lies in the power of natural selection. For Wells, the main point to be taken from this exercise is that many of the spokesmen for "science" actually have an agenda that includes a religious argument. "Junk DNA" is part of the popular literature on the subject not because it was a well established concept. It is part of popular discourse because several biologists hoped they could use it as a weapon against intelligent design. This suggests they had motives other than strictly examining the evidence.

But there is another sense in which the story of "Junk DNA" (or rather, the story of how it was widely accepted and then gradually rejected) is in fact devastating to the Darwinian paradigm. Junk DNA was an important "proof" for many defenders of "science" that evolution was "true." And yet, one of the main arguments against the whole concept of junk DNA is that it is not compatible with what we know of natural selection. In other words, Darwinian evolution is at once proved both by the presence and absence of junk DNA. And given that is the case, falsifying Darwinian evolution is nearly inconceivable. In the final analysis, real science can be falsified, but ideologies cannot.

54 of 72 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Garbage or a Goldmine? May 2, 2011

By Darwin Researcher

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

No matter which side of the Intelligent Design vs. mutation natural selection creationism controversy you are on, this book is a gold mine for anyone interested in the junk DNA issue and, indeed, the whole genetics field. The references (page 114 to page 159) alone are worth the price of the 173 page book (I paid 9.95 from Amazon). This readable well-documented tome included a glossary for those not in the field to insure that the book was assessable to every educated adult. In the last decade more and more research has supported the conclusion that much, if not most, of the so-called junk DNA has an important, if not a critical, function and I predict that this trend will continue for some time. Darwinism turned out to be a science stopper in this case. Instead of concluding the DNA that has no known function is junk, as was common, researchers should have been asking what does it do, the same question that would have saved us a lot of grief when Darwinists labeled organs that it was not known what their function was as vestigial (meaning then that they were evolutionary leftovers from the past without a function). The appendix, tonsils, and thymus come to mind as examples. Dr. Well's critique of Jerry Coyne, Darrel Falk, Karl Giberson, and other diehard Darwinists was devastating.