Chemistry: "Handedness" of Amino Acids

The chemistry of the theory of Evolution relies on the ability of amino acids, the "building blocks" of proteins and chemicals essential to life, to form spontaneously and arrange themselves in complex patterns. Many Evolutionists believe that the fact that amino acids have been produced artificially in the laboratory (the Miller-Urey experiment) does away with any problems which might arise in the chemistry of abiogenesis. However, this premature "proof" overlooks a very important (and elementary) principle: the handedness of molecules.

Handedness as such means that a molecule of any given amino acid has a 50/50 chance of forming as oriented to the right, and an equal 50/50 chance of forming as oriented (in a "mirror image" effect) to the left.

Proteins in cells require the use of solely left-handed molecules in their assembly. This means that when the first proteins were formed, they were created out of a solution of 100% left-handed amino acids. This occurance is, to put it simply, quite impossible. Even with all our fabulous modern instruments, there is absolutely no way to make a completely pure solution of left-handed amino acids. In the cell today, there is a mechanism to keep right-handed molecules from being used. But what about the beginning? The primordial soup had no mind of its own. Clearly, vast amounts of Design are necessary.

The situation becomes still more inexplicable for the Evolutionary chemist. DNA and RNA, the communcation and information components in the cell, are not made of left-handed molecules, but right-handed ones. So it is necessary for two completely pure chemical solutions to not only be produced, but actually interact with each other while maintaining their purity and furthermore carrying out responibilites within the cell!

Evolution is thus shown once more to provide for its believers nothing less than a "Catch 22" situation in which the laws of nature must be violated so life can form by naturalistic means.


-R. Josiah Magnuson