God's Threading Machines | The Institute for Creation Research

God's Threading Machines

What does it take to slip a tiny thread through the eye of a needle and then use that thread to accomplish a purpose? Chimpanzees and other apes can’t do this. It takes fine, precise motion. Three examples of using needle and thread point to God as a super-genius Creator.

In her later years, my grandmother sometimes asked me to thread a needle for her because her eyesight had dimmed. A sewing thread can enter only one place—the needle’s eye—to fulfill its purpose. Maybe the sewer then uses it to hem a pant leg, stitch a seam, or embroider a garment. Whoever properly manipulates thread must have sight, make precise motions, and imagine the end product.

Certain machines use thread to create cloth mechanically. In handlooms, the weaver tosses a shuttle that carries a bobbin of weft thread between separated crosswise warp threads. The weaver then swaps thread angles before tossing the shuttle back to the other side. Some automated factory looms replace shuttles with slender rods called rapiers. One rapier brings the thread halfway across, then passes its thread to a second rapier that grabs the thread to pull it all the way across the cloth width. They hand off the thread something like 1,000 times a minute.

The factory loom cannot see what it is doing, nor can it imagine an end product, but it can make a precise motion. Who could watch an industrial loom in action without immediately perceiving that whoever designed and built the loom had sight, precise motion, and a mindful purpose? In other words, the tools that humans make reflect human qualities and abilities. Did God make any threading machines?

Yes, He did, and without them our bodies would die in minutes. But His machines handle “threads” many times smaller than a human hair. If an RNA molecule, which carries the information needed to construct a protein, is like a thread, then the ribosome is like a needle’s eye. The slender RNA winds through the ribosome, which helps translate the RNA’s information.

What happens when bad thread enters a factory loom? A machinist stops the loom, diagnoses the problem, and devises a solution. Maybe a super-genius could devise a factory with no people, where machines diagnose and solve their own problems. Researchers recently discovered such machines working with ribosomes to correct faulty RNA.

Misshapen RNA strands stall inside their ribosomes. In yeast, this catches the attention of the oddly named Ski complex. Other organisms have similar complexes. Each Ski complex includes ribosome clamps, an on/off switch, and attachment points for an enzyme called helicase. The Ski2 segment of Ski complex clamps onto the stalled ribosome. It then pushes a dangling end of the RNA “thread,” called an overhang, into a channel that travels through helicase. Helicase likely threads bad RNA strands into the “eye”—a small opening—of a nearby exosome for recycling.

In a study published in the journal Science, a German and French team worked out the positions of the thousands of atoms that make up the ribosome, RNA, and Ski complex. The study authors wrote, “We observe that the mRNA 3′ overhang is threaded directly from the small ribosomal subunit to the helicase channel of Ski2.”1

Sighted, precise, imaginative people make factory looms that quickly and reliably slip threads through tight spots—but the machines sometimes need technicians. Similar reasoning demands a micro-sighted, precise-to-the-atom, and imaginative super-genius to make molecular machines that—like automated problem-solving technicians—thread flawed RNA strands into recyclers. Truly, our God is the ultimate Genius.

Reference

  1. Schmidt, C. et al. 2016. The cryo-EM structure of a ribosome–Ski2-Ski3-Ski8 helicase complex. Science. 354 (6318): 1431-1433.

* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research and earned his M.S. in biotechnology from Stephen F. Austin State University.

Cite this article: Brian Thomas, Ph.D. 2017. God's Threading Machines. Acts & Facts. 46 (3).

The Latest
NEWS
Bumblebee University
Entomologists, biologists who study insects, continue to uncover amazing discoveries regarding the intellect of bees1,2 Now, biologists...

CREATION.LIVE PODCAST
Struck: Risking It All for the Truth | Creation.Live Podcast:...
In this unique episode, host Trey talks with three key people involved in creating Struck—an upcoming miniseries that shows the special ties between...

NEWS
Giant Ants Buried in Receding Flood Rocks
Evolutionary scientists are baffled by a large ant fossil found in British Columbia, Canada. Known as Titanomyrma, this same ant had been found previously...

CREATION PODCAST
Why Do Animals Hibernate? | The Creation Podcast: Episode 45
The word hibernation is often used in reference to deep sleep, but what is it really? What kinds of creatures hibernate? How does this demonstrate the...

NEWS
Thalattosuchians—Extinct Crocodile Relatives?
The Thalattosuchia are an extinct group of marine crocodylomorphs (a group that includes the crocodiles) that allegedly transitioned from land to water...

NEWS
The Star-Nosed Mole
The star-nosed mole (Condylura cristata) is a fascinating semi-aquatic mammal found in eastern Canada and the United States. Moles (placental mammals)...

NEWS
The Hexagon: An Indication of Order and Design in Nature
In nature, noncoincidental patterns and geometry exist everywhere. But the number six appears to overshadow nature’s mathematical landscape. Whether...

NEWS
Neanderthal Crab Bake
The evolutionary science community said it perfectly in their headlines: “Proof that Neanderthals ate crabs is another 'nail in the coffin'...

CREATION PODCAST
Is There Any Truth to Dragon Legends? | The Creation Podcast:...
Dragons are considered by many to be made-up creatures in fairytales and legends, but our ancestors produced many descriptions and depictions of "dragons,"...

NEWS
Our Sun, Finely Tuned for Life on Earth
Aside from appreciating the splendor of the sun during a beautiful sunrise or sunset, many rarely consider how special, necessary, and finely tuned...