November 7, 2008 | David F. Coppedge

Body’s Junk Is Useful Stuff

What’s the difference between junk and stuff?  The jokester replies that stuff is the junk you throw away, and junk is the stuff you keep.  When it comes to stuff in your body that scientists have called junk, you had better keep all of it, because your life may depend on it.

  1. Junk DNA:  The term “junk DNA” sounds so last-millennium these days.  An article on PhysOrg is one among many that have claimed “‘Junk’ DNA Proves Functional.”  Repetitive strands, seemingly lacking in information, have been shown to be crucial either in regulating genes or providing binding sites for RNA transcription machines.
  2. Junk Brain Cells:  Glia cells outnumber the more fashionable neurons in the brain.  They have been relegated to junky roles like scaffolding.  Not any more: Science Daily reported that “Without Glial Cells, Animal Lose Their Senses.”  It appears that glial cells pull the strings behind the scenes like a skilled marionette artist.  This effect is even seen in little bitty roundworms.  Subjects without glia lost the ability to maintain their shape, respond to odors and absorb certain dyes.  “The results were striking,” when glial cells were removed from a worm’s amphid, a sensory organ containing glia and neurons.  “The absence of glia affected at least one of these three properties in each of the neurons, suggesting that glia not only regulate all of these properties but that they specifically regulate them in different neurons.”

Not all body parts are essential for survival.  Humans could probably get by without fingernails or color vision.  It was once popular to list all the apparently nonfunctional structures in the human body as useless leftovers of our evolutionary past.  The list has dropped to near zero today, though some evolutionists continue the tradition.  But if a structure proves to have a purpose, even a small one, at any stage in life, the reason for calling it “junk” evaporates.  We probably all have some junk we can safely dispose of, though: excess body fat.

Hang on to your stuff they’re calling junk – some day they may change their mind and call it good stuff.  The default position in biology should be that if it’s there, it’s needed.  That position fits perfectly well with intelligent design.  Considering that evolutionists once thought your pituitary gland, coccyx and tonsils were vestigial organs, their position can be considered dangerous.  Their latest entries in the evolutionary junk bin, glia and non-coding DNA, have now been relabeled as functional.  ID has had a steady winning streak in this game.  Wiggle your ears if you agree.

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