Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Where do new genes come from? This is a question young-earth creationists love to pose as if it's some unanswerable mystery. In this video, I respond directly to Wes from Creation Questions, who challenged viewers to convince him that evolution can explain de novo genes.
I walk through six well-documented mechanisms by which organisms generate genuinely new genetic information: gene duplication, de novo gene birth from non-coding DNA, retrotransposon hijacking, horizontal gene transfer, exon shuffling, and enzyme promiscuity. Each of these isn't just theoretical—we have observed examples in living organisms and can trace the genetic evidence of these processes throughout evolutionary history.
What I find particularly ironic is that young-earth creationists desperately need these mechanisms to be true. Their model requires thousands of species to emerge from just a handful of "kinds" on Noah's Ark in only 4,500 years. That's an enormous amount of genetic novelty in an impossibly short timeframe. So which is it—can new genetic information arise, or can't it?
The creationist claim that "mutations can't create new information" falls apart under scrutiny. When a duplicated gene takes on a new function that didn't exist in the ancestor, that IS new genetic information by any reasonable definition.
VIdeo from CreationQuestions I am responding to: youtube.com/live/cPG8-Bnj-dQ?si=HuEohG0qtZrelXik
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction & Wes's Challenge
4:47 Gene Duplication: The Classic Mechanism
9:27 De Novo Gene Birth from "Junk" DNA
15:30 Antifreeze Proteins: Two Origins Story
18:45 Hijacking: Retrotransposons & Mobile DNA
21:00 Borrowing: Horizontal Gene Transfer
23:15 Promiscuous Proteins & Exon Shuffling
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Joel Duff (aka Dr. Duff or The Natural Historian) resources:
About: joelduff.org
Blog: thenaturalhistorian.com
Twitter: twitter.com/NaturalHistoria
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thenaturalhi...
Photography "Portraits of Creation:" beechnutphotography.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Where do new genes come from? This is a question young-earth creationists love to pose as if it's some unanswerable mystery. In this video, I respond directly to Wes from Creation Questions, who challenged viewers to convince him that evolution can explain de novo genes.
I walk through six well-documented mechanisms by which organisms generate genuinely new genetic information: gene duplication, de novo gene birth from non-coding DNA, retrotransposon hijacking, horizontal gene transfer, exon shuffling, and enzyme promiscuity. Each of these isn't just theoretical—we have observed examples in living organisms and can trace the genetic evidence of these processes throughout evolutionary history.
What I find particularly ironic is that young-earth creationists desperately need these mechanisms to be true. Their model requires thousands of species to emerge from just a handful of "kinds" on Noah's Ark in only 4,500 years. That's an enormous amount of genetic novelty in an impossibly short timeframe. So which is it—can new genetic information arise, or can't it?
The creationist claim that "mutations can't create new information" falls apart under scrutiny. When a duplicated gene takes on a new function that didn't exist in the ancestor, that IS new genetic information by any reasonable definition.
VIdeo from CreationQuestions I am responding to: youtube.com/live/cPG8-Bnj-dQ?si=HuEohG0qtZrelXik
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction & Wes's Challenge
4:47 Gene Duplication: The Classic Mechanism
9:27 De Novo Gene Birth from "Junk" DNA
15:30 Antifreeze Proteins: Two Origins Story
18:45 Hijacking: Retrotransposons & Mobile DNA
21:00 Borrowing: Horizontal Gene Transfer
23:15 Promiscuous Proteins & Exon Shuffling
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joel Duff (aka Dr. Duff or The Natural Historian) resources:
About: joelduff.org
Blog: thenaturalhistorian.com
Twitter: twitter.com/NaturalHistoria
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thenaturalhi...
Photography "Portraits of Creation:" beechnutphotography.com
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