Tethya wilhelma
Can withstand 100 times the dose of X-rays that would be fatal for humans
According to a paper published in biorXiv ahead of peer-reviewed publication, a research team led by Angelo Forunato of Arizon State University's Arizona Cancer Evolution Center have found that sponges don't get cancer.
Sponges, which belong to the Porifera phylum, live for thousands of years, grow continually and lack an immune system. They are also exposed to solar radiation, so, since cancers normally arise due to mistakes in cell mitosis when the DNA is replicated, or to radiation damage to the DNA, they should accumulate numerous cancers over time.
Yet cancers have never been found in sponges. Clearly, there is something preventing this and, unlike with elephants which rarely get cancer, it can't be due to a highly efficient immune system.
In fact, sponges can survive the highest doses of ionizing radiation ever recorded for a living species. In their experiments, the Arizona team exposed the sponge species Tethya wilhelma to a dose of 600 Gy of X-ray radiation without harm. This is about 100 time the lethal dose for humans.
Following this exposure, the sponges were found to have "an over-expression of the genes involved in DNA repair, signaling transduction pathways and epithelial to mesenchymal transition". It is clear therefore that, probably because they occupy an environment which should make them susceptible to cancers, they have evolved these genes to counter any tendency to DNA damage or mistakes in replication.
Of course, that evolutionary explanation is not available to Creationists who must, according to the dogma of their cult, ascribe it to the intentional design of a magic deity. The question for creationists then is, if, as they believe, their favourite deity designed sponges complete with this repair mechanism to avoid cancers, why didn't this same designer, whom they believe also designed humans and all other living species, also give them this protection against cancers?
Does it actually want us to have cancers or did it lack the intelligence to know that the mechanism for repairing the DNA of Poriferae would also work for human and other DNA?
This is just another example of how those who believe in the absurd intelligent [sic] design notion, have to believe their favourite deity has some sort of malevolent hatred for humans and actually wants to see us suffer from these awful conditions, so doesn't allow us the same mechanisms it happily provides for other creatures and, if it really existed and does what Creationists claim, could have provided for us with equal ease, yet chose not to.
Of course, it's always open for a creationist to explain why cancer is such a great idea and humans suffering from it is perfectly consistent with the idea of an all-loving, caring and compassionate deity who loves its creations and only wants the best for them...
Sadly, the team's findings are behind a paywall, but their abstract can be read here:
Reference:
The more simple and the more primitive a life form is, the lesser is its capacity to suffer, especially if it's brainless and lacks a central nervous system. Humans, mammals, birds, and reptiles suffer the most because they are physically and mentally more complex. It should be pointed out that amphibians, fish, and even crustaceans such as lobsters and crabs have the capacity to suffer and even insects have the capacity to suffer somewhat. Lobsters in boiling water will screech and try to escape. That's evidence that they feel some kind of distress.
ReplyDeleteCancer afflicts all vertebrate animals, including our beloved pet dogs, cats, birds, horses. Our beloved pet reptiles like Anole lizards, geckos, and Iguanas also fall victim to cancer. Creationists and Fundamentalists claim that this is the fault of Adam and Eve eating a forbidden apple. I say that's a load of dung and manure, a stupid false myth invented by stupid theologians. It's cruel, unfair, unjust, unloving, and stupid a God that does this to His creation.
A beloved aunt in California died from cancer in November 2006. Tons of people at church prayed for her. Obviously the prayer failed.
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