Vesica Piscis II: Origins of the World

The Cat's Eye Nebula	PAGE CONTENTS: Amino Acids (fundamental blocks of life) in Space . DNA Interactive . The Genetic Clock (DNA & RNA) . Molecular & Evolutionary Clock (Mutations) . The Big Crunch . The Stardust Capsule & the Wild 2 Comet . Titan & Cassini-Huygens . Listen to Titan's Atmosphere and Echoes.

* The Genetic Clock: Nucleic acids hold the designs of life. In DNA and RNA are the code characters, the genes, which spell out the specific instructions for building proteins for life on our planet. This chemical form of info technology employs a four-letter alphabet. In the case of a single human cell there is enough information-storing capacity to hold the 30 volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica 3 or 4 times over...

* It is possible to use evolutionary change in DNA and RNA as a kind of molecular clock. By comparing the genetic material of living and extinct species, molecular biologists have found that DNA and RNA mutate at a fairly steady rate over long periods. Mutations can arise owing to exposure to energetic radiation and because there are copying errors during reproduction. These mutations give rise to species as diverse as leeches and lichen. They also lead to a kind of evolutionary clock, in which the 'tick' corresponds to the rate of mutation. The clock can be calibrated with precisely dated fossils and is then put to work in estimating the moment in time when species diverged from one another. It has also been used to show that the genetic code cannot be more than about 3.8 billion years old.

Drosophila Mutant The Mutation transforms antenna to legs.

Stardust Capsule

* The Stardust capsule floated to Earth on January 16 2006, ending a six-year journey across almost three billion miles that will help to answer some of the most exciting questions in astronomy. Inside Stardust are up to a million particles collected in January 2004, when the capsule flew through the tail of the Wild 2 comet. Since comets are made out of the initial building blocks of our solar system, Wild 2 is expected to reveal clues about how stars and planets are formed, and even about the beginnings of life. Our planet and even ourselves have a direct relation to the blocks brought back with Stardust. It is the first time since the Apollo missions that samples of rock have been returned from space to Earth. This thousandth of a gram of dust from comet Wild 2 will probably tell more nformation of the solar system than the last 100 years of telescope observations.