In the news

The first deals with some new findings in a very old experiment: The Miller-Urey set up. Apparently, Stanley Miller tried a second version of his experiment in which he injected steam into the sparks he sent into the apparatus (to simulate lagoons and tidal pools around volcanoes). A former student of Miller's, Jeffrey Bada, examined some very ancient vials left over from this experiment and was surprised to find that 22 amino acids were present (More than any other Miller-type experiment has produced)! The article also states that:

Although scientists no longer think that the early atmosphere resembled the gases Dr. Miller used, the gases released by volcanic eruptions do have similar properties. The scientists hypothesize that the sparks split apart water molecules in the steam, enabling a wider range of chemical reactions to take place.

Eat your heart out, Jonathan Wells. On a side note, some of you may remember that only a few months ago Discover published an article on another fascinating origin of life experiment conducted by Dr. Miller.

One more thing in the news: Blogger Halfway There has caught the ICR in a very embarrassing error. Read it here.