| Stanley Miller, a graduate student at the University of | | | | conclusion. However - to the educated elite, the |
| Chicago in 1953, experimented with the creation of | | | | Darwin theory of evolution and the claimed success |
| life in his laboratory by simulating Earth's atmosphere | | | | of the Miller experiment - lives on today. |
| of 3.8 billion years ago (ammonia, methane, hydrogen | | | | Recent efforts by scientists have been to craft a |
| and water vapor), using electric sparks to simulate | | | | "minimal genome"- the smallest group of genes |
| lightning. The experiment produced a reddish "slime", | | | | needed by organisms to survive and function - then |
| only a simple inorganic compound, with no life or | | | | to insert them into an empty cell. The stripped-down |
| subsequent development, but Miller's experiment was | | | | genome was established with the help of a simple |
| widely reported - and erroneously interpreted - as | | | | bacterium, knocking out its genes, one by one, until |
| proof that life could have started similarly - naturally | | | | only the genetic material that was vital for survival |
| and by chance. | | | | remained. The plan is to re-synthesize these DNA |
| While a synthetization by non-biological reactions of | | | | sequences from simple chemicals, then stitch them |
| amino acids, building blocks of protein as found | | | | together to create an artificial organism. (Note: The |
| throughout the universe, they were "far from being | | | | objective has not yet been achieved, and the |
| alive" - it took twenty-five years for the scientific | | | | experiment seeks knowledge of organism behavior, |
| community to admit its error and retract its | | | | not as a validation of "natural" creation. |