This series is dedicated to the memory of Jonathan Wells (1942-2024) a brilliant and gentle genius whose writings bespoke of his strong desire to cut through to the truth.
And now for something completely different! Something you’ve probably never seen discussed anywhere else before! Something you may not have even thought about yourself! Something that evolutionary biologists conveniently and totally ignore! Something that, for the present, is not highlighted by proponents of ID either! Discussions on the origin and diversity of life mostly involve molecular and cellular biology—DNA, genes and their regulatory networks (GRNs), RNAs, proteins with their different shapes, sizes, properties and functions, the cell membrane, cytoplasm, nucleus, mitochondria, ribosomes, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, lysosomes, and interconnected cytoskeleton of the cell. Now, don’t get me wrong! When it comes to the dialogue about the causal hurdles for life that need to be overcome, each and every component mentioned above is important, and frankly, to my mind, they all favor ID. After all, as Dr. James Tour wrote in The Mystery of Life’s Origin—the continuing controversy: “We’re still clueless about the origin of life.” And as Dr. Douglas Axe wrote in his book, Undeniable—How Biology Confirms Our Intuition That Life is Designed: “Of the possible genes encoding protein chains 153 amino acids in length, only about one in a hundred trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion is expected to encode a chain that folds well enough to perform a biological function” But is that good enough? What about multicellular organisms (MCOs), like us? For a MCO isn’t there a lot more to explain than just molecular and cellular biology? Besides knowing what’s going on inside our cells (within the intracellular space) to really appreciate and understand what it takes for us to be alive and thrive, don’t we also need to explain what’s going on outside our cells (but within our body)—in the extracellular space? This is where various interconnected supportive biomolecules and one-third of the body’s total water, that in suspension has various cells, and in solution, precision chemistry, are located. The processes that affect the intracellular space are certainly vital for life. But for a MCO, like the human body, so are the processes that affect the extracellular space! A few weeks before passing Jonathan Wells weighed in (by email) on my concern and true to form did so with his usual concise insight and wit. “Evolutionary biologists focus on molecular biology, genes and GRNs because (1) those things fit into a neat narrative (even though it omits many things) and (2) They have the tools to work with those things (sort of a “drunk under the streetlight” phenomenon).” In other words, molecular and cellular biology are all that evolutionary biologists have in their toolbox. So, they limit their explanations to mainly intracellular and molecular processes, while mostly ignoring what must necessarily be happening in the extracellular space for MCO survival. This will be the focus of this series. It will look at the ingenious innovations the body must have to combat and/or use the forces of nature, and the laws that govern them, to maintain control of its extracellular space. Without any one of them MCO life is impossible. That’s a fact! I hope this inspires questions that evolutionary biology must adequately answer (not explain away) to prevent you from being misled. That you will see that Darwinism is a grand thought experiment paradoxically devoid of much critical thinking. That the new and upcoming TOBD (Theory of Biological Design) makes more sense and that the attempt to save materialism by the concept of “evolution on purpose” (“teleonomy” instead of “teleology”) is a metaphysical dodge. The Extracellular Space: Where the Rest of Life Takes Place Multicellular Life: The Basics Homeostasis Intracellular and Extracellular Spaces: Volume and Chemical Control Interstitial and Intravascular Spaces: Volume Control Total Body Water Control Sodium Control Potassium Control Calcium Control Oxygen Delivery Glucose Control The Extracellular Matrix Connective Tissue The Extracellular Matrix - Part 1: Collagens and Elastins The Extracellular Matrix - Part 2: Ground Substance (Water, GAGs and PGs) Howard Glicksman MD is a G.P. who graduated from the University of Toronto in 1978. He had an office/hospital practice for 25 years and recently retired from providing medical care for hospice patients in their homes for over 20 years. His online articles on “how the body works” culminated in a book he co-authored with Steve Laufmann called Your Designed Body (2022).  Read his other online articles here.