Candidate for science story of 2009 in first week of the year

This could be huge. A self-replicating molecule. A molecule that copies itself is considered to be the first step towards a living system, but previously, no examples were known outside of existing biological systems.

Details forthcoming in the journal Science.

Carl Zimmer, who I just wrote about mere moments ago, may have pegged it first:

2009 may be the year in which synthetic biology finally goes mainstream.