Number 199 (Story #1), October 19, 1994 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein THE MOST DISTANT MOLECULAR GAS ever observed has been detected in quasar H1413+117 at a redshift of 2.5 using telescopes in France and Spain. The gas, carbon monoxide, actually sits in the host galaxy which surrounds the quasar (nicknamed the cloverleaf quasar) and seems to constitute the bulk of the galaxy. This observation is important since it helps to establish an earlier point in the history of the universe at which a galaxy's mass could still largely consist of molecular gas rather than condensed stars. (Richard Barvainis et al., Nature, 13 October 1994.)