On a new episode of ID the Future, host Jonathan Witt sits down with molecular biologist Douglas Axe at the recent Dallas Conference on Science & Faith. Dr. Axe, author of Undeniable: How Biology Confirms Our Intuition That Life Is Designed, had his research on protein folds published in the Journal of Molecular Biology, work showing that random mutations are not up to the task of building fundamentally new protein folds, a finding that poses a major challenge to modern evolutionary theory. Download the podcast or listen to it here.

If evolution can’t build something as basic as a new protein fold, how could it build whole new organs and body plans in the history of life? But Witt presents Axe with an objection: Axe couldn’t possibly have tested more than the tiniest fraction of a fraction of all the possible amino acid combinations for the protein he studied, so how can we trust his findings? Tune in to hear Axe’s answer, and to learn about other lines of evidence confirming his research. This is one of the most lucid explanations of the protein evolution problem that you will hear.

Photo: Douglas Axe speaking at the recent Dallas Conference on Science & Faith, by Chris Morgan.