Faulty interpretation

theage.com.au
IT IS because the Catholic Church opposes embryonic stem cell research that xenotransplantation remains the only option for many researchers and sufferers of serious diseases (Letters, 12/12).

Such research offers the potential to one day be able to grow tissue to replace diseased organs, hence curing many of these diseases and significantly reducing the number of animals killed for medical research.

We can only hope that eventually religious organisations will stop using their interpretations of ancient texts to hold back new forms of scientific research. In the meantime, the suffering of human and animals continues unabated.

Ancient Penguin DNA Raises Doubts About Accuracy of Genetic Dating Techniques

This ScienceDaily article demonstrates the strengths of the Scientific Method compared to other ways of acquiring knowledge. Reasonable people agree that reassessing knowledge with new information is necessary and is a good thing.
ScienceDaily (Nov. 15, 2009)

Penguins that died 44,000 years ago in Antarctica have provided extraordinary frozen DNA samples that challenge the accuracy of traditional genetic aging measurements, and suggest those approaches have been routinely underestimating the age of many specimens by 200 to 600 percent.

Summary
A certain method of genetic dating techniques is used as a standard. There was evidence to suggest that it was flawed. New information and evidence has been discovered to support previous evidence suggesting that the method was flawed. Now the method is being reassessed with regard to the new evidence. It also necessitates reassessing any conclusions that were made using that technique.

Reassessing Knowledge With New Information is a Good Thing
The benefit is that reassessing conclusions in light of new information get us closer to a better understanding of our world and to making better decisions.

One Step Closer To Making Life In The Lab

From Nature.com (requires login), "RNA world easier to make": Ingenious chemistry shows how nucleotides may have formed in the primordial soup. Here's a link from "Wired" that is freely accessible "Life’s First Spark Re-Created in the Laboratory"