Figure 1 - copperhead snake venom, as seen via an electron microscope Figure 2 - venom from a copperhead after living in biosphere Images courtesy of Creation Evidence Museum

If you recall in the last newsletter, I reported on some research carried out in the hyperbaric biosphere at Creation Evidence Museum, in Glen Rose, Texas.  Copperhead snakes were placed in this chamber which simulates a hypothetical pre-flood world, and their venom was radically altered (photos right).

One astute reader (Tara from Washington) wrote in, asking


It's an excellent question, so I thought I'd address it.

NASA depiction of the "Stardust" spacecraft Courtesy NASA/JPL

5) Life from a comet?

Another reader wrote in, asking for commentary on the recent announcement of "life's buildling blocks" found in a comet:
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=852142

The gist of the article regards samples from the stardust project, a man-made satellite which flew through, and collected samples from the tail of a comet.  Well wouldn't you know it, but the samples contained an amino acid called glycine, which is one of the building blocks of life!

Fascinating to be sure - but proof that life on earth came from outer space?  Hardly!

Where'd it come from?
First of all, where do we find glycine in the universe?  Earth.  This is why the report was delayed so long - the scientists wanted to be sure it wasn't contamination.  Fair enough.  So in analysing the glycine, they examined its carbon 12/13 ratio, and concluded that it came from outer space.
This is a huge assumption in and of itself, as it does not (and cannot) take into account the possibility that C12/13 ratios can be produced here on earth that match the ratio they measured.

For a fun read, check out Dr. Walter T. Brown's explanation of the origin of comets
http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/Comets.html

And the origin of Asteroids and Meteorites:
http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/Asteroids.html

In short, the glycine may, in fact, be very good evidence that the comet came from earth.

How much did you say...?
Furthermore, please notice the language in the article:

Wait a minute - the article starts off by stating that the glycine was found in trace amounts.  In other words, there was barely any!  Then suddenly, 'barely any' translated into "life in the universe may be common."  Oh really?
Secondly, this can hardly be called life!  Glycine is only one of dozens of amino acids, of which a minimum of 20 are needed for life!  So they found trace amounts of one of the twenty required amino acids, and suddenly, life came to earth from comets?

This is not unlike finding a bolt in the tail of a comet, and concluding that cars were delivered to earth by comets - and no, that analogy is not that much of a stretch.  Some might argue that cars do not reproduce, and therefore the analogy doesn't apply.  Actually, amino acids don't reproduce, neither do proteins (which are made up of amino acids) and those are all needed to form a living cell, which can be called life.  And the complexity of a living cell is infinitely more complex than a car, which cannot reproduce.

Interestingly, living bacteria have been found in a freshly landed meteorite!  So why such a hubub over a mere amino acid when we have actually found living bacteria in meteorites? (see endnote #67 in Walt Brown's excellent book, "In the Beginning," the entire book being available on line at http://creationscience.com )
This probably has more to do with obtaining funding than science - though in no way do I wish to discount this discovery.

This discovery, while fascinating and important, has nothing to do with the origin of life in outer space.  In fact, it's all good evidence that comets, meteorites and asteroids came from earth.

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