The scientists used the National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in West Virginia to study a giant cloud of gas some 25,000 light-years from Earth, near the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. The chemicals they found in that cloud include a molecule thought to be a precursor to a key component of DNA and another that may have a role in the formation of the amino acid alanine.
via Researchers Discover an Important Pair of Prebiotic Molecules in Interstellar Space | SciTech Daily.
BTW, before I lose you, this is the same observatory that may be closed soon.
So, a cloud older than what many would say the earth is (6,000 years and all that) showing similar patterns to our DNA.
Maybe that’s why they are shutting it down… because too many do not want to see Science progress.
Joel L. Watts holds a Masters of Arts from United Theological Seminary with a focus in literary and rhetorical criticism of the New Testament. His interests include exploring the role of mimesis in human civilization, specifically in the study of religion and media, as well as science fiction and the way in which it has allowed mythology to be explored in light of scientific discoveries of the past century. He is the author of Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark: Introduction and Commentary (Wipf and Stock, 2013) and a co-editor and contributor to From Fear to Faith: Stories of Hitting Spiritual Walls (Energion, 2013).
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Claiming that these pre-biotic molecules are “showing similar patterns to our DNA” is akin to claiming that the discovery of some shapes that could be formed into letters would be ‘showing similar patterns to Shakespeare.’
No, i wouldn’t go that far. From the evidence presented here, there are certain similarities.
What they found are a number of relatively simple organic molecules, one of which might react to form one of the four basic components of DNA. The second might form an amino acid that is important for life. Similar to DNA would be a stretch considering the complexity of DNA. Considering that these organic molecules might originate anywhere in the universe, the distance from earth has little to do with the age of the earth and there are much more compelling data concerning the age of the earth and the known universe though I’m sure this might be debated.
Skid, my comment about the distance from the earth is that is has taken 25000 light years for the images of the clouds to travel hear. Young Earth Creationists, who completely destroy Scripture, say that’s impossible.