“It’s alive!”* That headline—and similar ones—appeared in sensationalist media accounts about the synthesis of a reproducing cell in a research lab. The media justifiably applauded the production of a synthetic bacterium, but most reports failed to explain that all of the components already existed.
While Dr. J. Craig Venter’s research is amazing and may greatly benefit mankind, it had nothing to do with molecules-to-man evolution.
Intelligent scientists working in state-of-the-art labs still have not produced anything near a new life form from scratch. Moreover, the mindless process of naturalistic evolution—even given billions of years—would not fare any better.
* http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37256799/ns/technology_ and_science-science/