Intelligent Design wingnuts never come up with things like this:
Chemists at Oregon State University have pioneered a controversial theory about how supposedly-stable DNA bases can be pushed into a “dark state” in which they are highly vulnerable to damage from ultraviolet radiation – an idea that has challenged some of the most basic concepts of modern biochemistry.
The theory, not long ago dismissed as impossible by much of the science community, has just in recent months begun to garner increasing interest, and is being confirmed by other studies.
And though it began as scientific heresy, the findings could help explain how the presence of water was the key to the evolution of life on Earth, making it possible for life to emerge from what was once a hostile and unforgiving primordial soup of chemicals and radiation.
Here, we have people looking at the physical world, and trying to make sense of it using the intelligence that they have. To me, it seems that religionists who turn their backs on that intelligence (however poorly it is developed in themselves) and embrace the simplistic now-popular form of Creationism that is labeled “Intelligent Design” — where a “Who?” is posited and suddenly all the massive loads of of evidence we have about “How?” and “When?” and “Where?” are supposed to be thrown out the window — is an offense. It is a kind of spitting in the face of the being that these people believe gave them that intelligence in the first place. But worse, it’s just too stupid a theory to buy; there’s nothing truly compelling about it, no details that get stumbled upon, no “Aha!” moments, no empty spots that will need to be filled in later when we know more. Intelligent Design cannot brook an unknown, and this is why it can never, ever be real science.
Rather, Intelligent Design as the Creationists construe it is, and only ever will be, essentially, a manifestation of hubris. There’s no reverence in that kind of religion, no humility. There’s no room even for, “I don’t know.”
Enough on ID. This scientific finding is cool. Follow the link above and go read about it.