The Flagellum Bacteria—Proof of Design?

When reporting on the subject, mainstream western media portray Intelligent Design (sometimes referred to simply as I.D.) as a battle between religion and science, between the ignorant and the educated, between people led by blind emotion versus logically minded scientists. But is this what it's all about?

Most of us have been taught that evolution is a proven theory and only ignorant prejudiced people disagree with it, but many people are unaware of NEW information which was unavailable when Darwin first penned On the Origen of Species.

When Charles Darwin and his colleagues looked at cells with the instruments available to them 150 years ago, they thought cells were little more than membranes holding together some kind of protoplasmic substance similar to gelatine.  Scientists NOW KNOW cells are infinitely more complex than this.  Staggeringly complex!

Let's look at one example.  Every one of us has in his intestines something known as e-coli, also known as a flagellum bacteria, because it has a hair-like "flagellum" protruding from it.  What the average person may not realize is how amazing this lowly bacteria really is.  E-coli's  flagellum is no useless wild hair protruding out of its cellular wall.  What it is, is one part of an outboard motor of such incredible design as to leave one aghast in amazement.  Here is a cell so small that 4 billion can fit in a tablespoon of liquid and each one has a set of outboard motors that work in concert with one another.  Each motor has 40 separate parts made from about 25 different proteins and it's a finely tuned marvel of engineering that causes the flagellum (the propeller), to spin, moving the cell through its liquid environment. Dr. Keiichi Namba has published numerous papers for Osaka University detailing his research into cell biology, biophysics and the flagellum. He provides in staggering detail, the remarkable nature of the flagellum. Think about this:  "It rotates at around 20,000 rpm's" and "this highly efficient flagellar motor . . .  [goes] far beyond the capabilities of artificial motors"  (Japan Nanonet Bulletin, 11th Issue, February 5, 2004 – Interview with Keiichi Namba).

Further, it can stop in one quarter of a turn and immediately reverse direction at the same speed!  This may sound simple, but the ability to shift directions is something Namba has studied extensively in an attempt to unravel the mystery of how it is done.  He has concluded that the speed with which it can change direction indicates "that the flagellin molecule has a very fine mechanical switch function."

Former evolutionist and biochemist, Michael Behe, makes this astute observation about flagella bacteria, "When we see an outboard motor, we see the way the parts interact and so on, we know someone made that" (Unlocking the Mysteries of Life).  And when Behe speaks of flagella bacteria having an outboard motor he is not using figurative language.  Scientists who study these marvels of design and engineering use mechanical terms such as bushings, rotor, stator, universal joint, drive shaft, and propeller to describe its various parts. 

"Escherichia coli is a single-celled organism that lives in your gut. It is equipped with a set of rotary motors only 45 nm in diameter.  Each motor drives a long, thin, helical filament that extends several cell body lengths out into the external medium. The assemblage of motor and filament is called a flagellum. The concerted motion of several flagella enables a cell to swim. A cell can move toward regions that it deems more favorable by measuring changes in the concentrations of certain chemicals in its environment (mostly nutrients), deciding whether life is getting better or worse, and then modulating the direction of rotation of its flagella. Thus, in addition to rotary engines and propellers, E. coli's standard accessories include particle counters, rate meters, and gear boxes. This microorganism is a nanotechnologist's dream."

WOW!  Physics Today can hardly be construed as a creationist publication, and one has to wonder how such an incredible machine managed to come into being by blind chance.  Not only are there 40 parts to this motor, but each part is essential to the operation of the flagellum.  Take one out and it is a worthless piece of junk.  Unlike an outboard motor that is made from metal and plastic, this motor is made from proteins, each of which is incredibly complex in itself.  So amazing is this nano-creature that when Professor Namba first saw an electron micrograph of the bacterial flagellum and its motor as a graduate student, "He was surprised to see such complex and sophisticated structure exist in living organisms. It impressed him deep enough to switch his research from muscle to flagella after a while. 'Looking at the shape of the flagellar basal body, it is obviously designed to rotate'" (Japan Nanonet Bulletin). (Emphasis mine.)

What is that?  "Designed to rotate"?  How often we hear words such as designed and engineered in the many very well produced nature books and films.  Yet those same books and documentaries, which use words that point to intelligence, also refer to life evolving by blind chance!  INCREDIBLE!  Think about it! The world around us is filled with examples of intricate design, sophisticated specialization and complexity that cannot be explained away with blind chance.