junk DNA Archives

May 12, 2026May 11, 2026

The Thymus Has an Essential Purpose

A mysterious organ of the human body lies behind the sternum (breastbone) and in front of the heart. It’s called the thymus. Almost 2000 years ago, the Greek physician and surgeon Galen of Pergamon called it the “seat of the soul.” However, as recently as 1961, Nobel Prize-winning British biologist Sir Peter Medawar called the thymus the graveyard for dying cells and “an evolutionary accident of no very great significance.” Today, scientists know that the thymus has an essential purpose in establishing the immune system during childhood and continues to be beneficial throughout life. Since the thymus has been known for thousands of years, why did it take so long for science to discover that it has a purpose?

Recent research at Massachusetts General Hospital has shown the role the thymus plays in a person’s health. It helps regulate aging and immune health. It appears to play a crucial role in a person’s longevity, protecting against cancer, autoimmune disease, and even cardiovascular risks. Medical scientists have found that people with healthier thymuses are less likely to develop lung cancer or die of heart disease or other causes.

The thymus has sometimes been removed because it can get in the way of heart or chest surgery, and the removal is called a thymectomy. In the past, thymectomy was not considered a problem because people seemed to get along very well without the thymus. The research team found that people receiving a thymectomy were more likely to die of any cause within five years than people with a healthy thymus. People without a thymus were twice as likely to develop cancer and were also more likely to develop autoimmune disease.

The thymus has an essential purpose and is not a vestigial organ, as some have thought in the past. It is not a mistake of evolution. A healthy thymus is a predictor of good health in many respects. People with healthy thymuses are less likely to develop lung cancer or die of heart disease. They are also more likely to respond positively to cancer drugs. The research has led to interest in finding ways to slow the thymus’s natural deterioration, which occurs in adulthood.

Too often, we have been led to believe that something is a vestigial organ, leftover from the process of evolution, when, in fact, it plays a role in our health. (For example, tonsils, appendix, and so-called “junk DNA.”) Looking at medical research from an evolutionary viewpoint can sometimes lead to neglect of important health issues. If we believe our bodies are intelligently designed rather than merely accidents of evolution, we have a reason to look for that design. The thymus has an essential purpose because God designed it that way, but science overlooked it for way too long.

References: washingtonpost.com, and New England Journal of Medicine HERE and HERE

March 2, 2026March 1, 2026

Junk DNA and ERVs

Every cell in the human body contains a molecule called DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). We often hear about DNA being used in crime investigations because each person’s DNA is unique. The DNA molecule holds a code that determines many characteristics of an individual. It also contains some seemingly non-coding sequences that scientists have called “junk DNA.” Evolutionists suggest that this “junk” proves humans are simply the result of evolution because an intelligent creator would not have inserted ERVs or useless sequences into our DNA.

The most notable of these so-called junk sequences are endogenous retroviruses (ERVs). “Endogenous” means they originate from within the cells, and “retroviruses” because they were believed to be remnants of ancient viral infections that affected the genomes of our ancestors. The theory was that ERVs were inherited through the evolutionary process. However, recent studies paint a different picture.

If ERVs had been random viral insertions in our ancestors’ DNA, they would likely have no important functions. A recent study shows that they are “essential” on a “widespread” scale during the earliest stages of human development. Without them, the human embryo would not survive. Earlier research indicated that ERVs are crucial in our immune system, perform vital cellular functions, and help regulate gene expression.

Scientists should be cautious before assuming that so-called “junk DNA” has no purpose and that humans are simply products of blind evolution. One thing we have been told before is that God doesn’t make junk. Intelligent design predicted that we would find this “junk” has a purpose.

Reference: scienceandculture.com

January 7, 2020January 6, 2020

Amazing Complexity of Being You

The more we learn about the human body, the more we see the complexity that defies any notion of mindless creation. The latest count of microscopic species that live in or on our bodies is over 10,000. The total number of single-cell microbes is over one-hundred trillion. These are not just hitchhikers that have come along for the ride. They are essential to the proper functioning of our bodies. Scientists have well studied most of these microbes, but the scientific literature continues to report on new roles for microbes that scientists previously thought to have no function. We marvel at the amazing complexity of being you.

This complexity is minor compared to DNA. The project to sequence the human genome formally began in 1990 and was completed in 2003. If you wonder why it took so long, consider the enormous size of the DNA molecule. Packed into every cell of your body is a DNA strand that, if you unwound it and stretched it out, would be about three meters long. Considering the number of cells in the human body, if you took the stretched-out DNA molecules from every cell and laid them end-to-end, they would reach from here to the Sun and back almost 70 times. A few years ago, the popular literature told us that 98% of our DNA was junk with no functional use. Since that time, science has learned that over 80% of human DNA has a function, and you don’t hear about “junk DNA” anymore.

The point of all these numbers is to show the amazing complexity of being you. The human body is an incredibly complicated machine with a blueprint that scientists are still not able to read. As we do read parts of that blueprint, we find that our assumptions about our bodies have led to unfortunate medical decisions. As a child, I can remember the polio epidemic and the pain and misery that it brought to some of my friends. It is incredible that I never contracted this virus because when I was very young, I had a lot of throat problems, and the doctor decided to remove my tonsils. We now know that the tonsils are the only area of the body that can synthesize antibodies to fight poliomyelitis. If you don’t have tonsils, your chances of developing polio increase significantly.

We hear promoters of the theory of human evolution glibly talk about the chance mutations of life that would lead to what humans are today. Assuming that the incredible complexity of the human body can come about by chance alone is to accept a faith that defies reason. The simple biblical statement that “God formed man of the dust of the Earth” ignores the intelligence and design that is required. The Psalmist had a glimpse of the amazing complexity of being you when he wrote, “I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalms 139:14-15). Today we know far more about our creation than David did, and we can add our voice to that praise.

May 6, 2019October 13, 2021

Does Intelligent Design Destroy Science?

Does Intelligent Design Destroy Science? Skeptics claim that Intelligent Design destroys science. This claim shows how badly the skeptics misunderstand intelligent design.

The dictionary defines science as knowledge. When we do scientific experiments and make observations, we are trying to gain knowledge. We apply that knowledge to those situations where we can gain more knowledge. We never just say “God did it” and stop investigating. We continue experimenting because we want to understand how and why God did it. Believing that there is design in all aspects of the creation never stops us from looking for a deeper understanding. Naturalism is frequently just the opposite. A classic example of this is Junk DNA.

As naturalists examined the DNA in various animals, they found that there was DNA that didn’t seem to be necessary. They called it “Junk DNA” assuming that it was a byproduct left over from the evolutionary process. For many researchers, that was the end of the story. No further experiments were designed to find a purpose for junk DNA. In this case, a naturalistic view and assumption stopped the scientific investigation, or at least slowed it down.

A biology professor chastised me for referring to junk DNA as a dead-end street. His exact words were “God doesn’t make any junk.” The assumption that junk DNA wasn’t junk led to further investigation. That research now tells us the so-called “junk” has a purpose and plays a vital role in life processes. Believing that everything we see was created with a purpose and a design, and wanting to understand that design is a great catalyst for scientific investigation.

Historically, most of the significant discoveries of science over the past 1000 years have been made by scientists who recognized purpose and design in the cosmos. They were striving to understand that design. In our quarterly journal (which you can read on doesgodexist.org), we have a column titled “Scientists and God.” We present statements by leading scientists about their faith and their recognition of purpose and design in the creation. Does Intelligent Design destroy science? No, it supports science.

We quoted Albert Einstein in our first quarter journal for 2019 when he said:

“We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written the books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books, but doesn’t know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human beings toward God. We see the universe marvelously arranged and obeying certain laws but only dimly understand these laws.”

Whether we study biology or quantum mechanics, Intelligent Design enhances science because the universe was intelligently designed.
— John N. Clayton © 2019