This article in this afternoon's
N. Y. Times (online) is a preview of a paper to be published in the British journal Nature on May 14th.
The article says that a chemist, John Sutherland, has solved a 20-year conundrum about how replicating RNA could have served as a basis for an "RNA world" back in the Archean period, and as a bridge to the early life form that is the ancestor (apparently) of all organisms on earth.
My real reason for posting this link is to point out that on the
Times web page that contains today's article (and at least when I clicked to pull it up, the most prominent ad is one for the DVD "The God Who Wasn't There." A pretty stark example of advertising placement being tailored to the assumed or likely attitudes of readers who click on links to articles on biology and the beginning of life. . . . and also an indication, perhaps, that the much-trumpeted "compatibility" between scientific literacy and religious belief is not as extensive or significant as the John Templeton Foundation would want the general public to believe.