In the June issue of Scientific American, there was an article regarding new thoughts on the origin of life on earth that I found particularly interesting.
It explained that 30 years ago or so, many scientists believed that DNA was the building block of life...and it was somehow the beginning chemical structure that initiated all life on earth. (Hawkins also believed in this theory as I understand it)
Then, a few years ago, RNA was discovered and because it was an even simpler form, it was theorized that it, not DNA was the building block etc. (I am not a scientist so I may not be explaining this very well)
According to the article, something new was found however...a rather perplexing puzzle about DNA and RNA molecules. It seems that the old question of which came first, the chicken or the egg is once again being asked.
In order for DNA to exist in the double helix form that we are accustomed to seeing, something had to cause a replicator molecule to be added.
2007-07-08
16:54:05
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17 answers
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asked by
Poohcat1
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