Martian Microbes Unlock
Secrets of the Universe
Mobius Helix: Structure of Life
Crack Team Cracks Code
Secret in the Zeros
No Consensus Yet
After more than five weeks in seclusion, a secret team of scientists announced to NASA and the NSA on Monday that they found the elusive Ur Molecule, the proto molecule that developed into life on earth.
The molecule, called protoribonucleic acid (PNA), is believed to have developed into ribonucleic acid (RNA) and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), the building blocks of life on earth. Unlike DNA, with its famous double helix structure, PNA has a Mobius, or single-sided structure.
The DNA and PNA molecule compared. DNA shows a double helix
structure compared to the one-sided loop of PNA.
Until Monday team leader David McKay, a member of the original research team on the meteorite AHL84001, denied even the most remote possibility that they were trying to trace the origins of life. (top)
In spite of his denials, McKay spearheaded a team comprised of Stanley Miller, UC San Diego, who originally modeled earth's primordial environment; Stuart Kaufmann, whose research focuses on self-organizing molecules; neurobiologist Francis Crick, who discovered DNA; MIT linguist Noam Chomsky; and Cambridge professor Douglas Adams, author of several books on extra-terrestrial civilizations.
The team holed up at Area in Nevada for five weeks after the discovery of Monolith 2, the Martian replica of ALH84001 discovered by the Pathfinder mission to Mars. But their research led nowhere until the discovery of transmissions from Monolith 2 to a third monolith in orbit around Europa.
Most of the team remain publicly silent but several have made comments off the record for NSA specialists at Area 51 (NSAa51). (top)
According to Crick, the transmissions made all the difference. The transmitter broadcast in a seemingly unbreakable monary code, composed of nothing but an unbroken sequence of zeros. The transmissions led them to look for nucleic acids built from atoms with no atomic weight.
Unlike DNA molecules, which are made from Purines and Pyridamines, which in turn are built from the structural from nucleic acids comprised of Hydrogen, Nitrogen and Oxygen, the PNA molecule is built from impurines, or nucleic acids with no atomic weight whatsoever.Miller, Kaufmann and Adams are convinced that far more than a gene sequence is at stake in their research. Their report suggests that the PNA molecule may well contain the formula for the universe itself, mapping out everything from the big bang to the final fizzle. (top) |
 |