Ornery_Investment131 t1_j3oxddl wrote on January 10, 2023 at 1:42 AM

Reply to comment by ihaveredhaironmyhead in How does the spindle apparatus know what to do during cell division? by ihaveredhaironmyhead

That's like asking how does the carburetor know how much air and gas to admit and how to mix them or how a loom knows what threads go where. The carburetor and loom do what they do because that's what that machine does when it's running. Because the physics will be followed, they will not make smoothies and they will not sort coins. Inside the cell are little machines that evolved to do exactly what they do because of chemistry (which is really just physics) and it literally took millions of years and countless generations for them to evolve to this astounding level of complexity. The spindle apparatus is no more intelligent than an engine cam or a loom shuttle but it does what it does when it has the proper inputs, a whole lot of helper machines around it and a source of power.

The actual names of the little machines that guide the spindles are Aurora Kinase A and B and a couple other proteins. They are like jigsaw puzzle pieces that only fit in the specific places that they're supposed to fit.

Watch this video for a general overview of cellular machinery and please excuse the anthropomorphism, it's irresistible when you see some of these little buggers work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp6qRNNGPj4

[deleted] t1_j3p3n1g wrote on January 10, 2023 at 2:25 AM

[removed]

ihaveredhaironmyhead OP t1_j3pksvo wrote on January 10, 2023 at 4:35 AM

If I was a creationist (I'm definitely not) this is definitely what I would cite as the strongest evidence of a creator. It truly boggles the mind that random interactions of molecules can lead to something like a cell which is way more than the sum of its parts - and it's driven by the same forces that pull the rock from your hand to the floor. Going into my biology education I thought the cell was just a house to protect fragile DNA. But the cell is really what you are... The DNA contains instructions to build the first cell of your life but after that the DNA is not involved in cellular division. It's just chemistry and ultimately physics. Is that right? It makes me think we have no free will and everything is just what happens when you have a big Bang and let billions of years happen.