The headline sounds like something out of a B-movie from the early days of cinematography, but fortunately (if you’re a scientist) or unfortunately (if you’re a creationist/Bible-thumper), it’s VERY true: according to National Geographic, XNA — synthetic DNA — has been manufactured in a lab.
The study, which was conducted in U.K.’s Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, concluded that “beyond heredity, specific XNAs have the capacity for Darwinian evolution. Thus, heredity and evolution, two hallmarks of life, are not limited to DNA and RNA.”
What does this mean? Well, to put it simply: this discovery could answer a LOT of questions about the origin of life…and they don’t involve missing ribs & seven days. The goal, according to the paper, is to evolve the XNA to discover the origins of life…which, it’s speculated, does NOT involve DNA & RNA…but rather, something a LOT simpler.