  In many gravitational interactions between galaxies, gas and stars that have
been torn from either or both of the precursor galaxies can collect in 'tidal
tails'. Star formation begins anew in these regions to produce 'tidal dwarf
galaxies', giving insight into the process of galaxy formation through the
well-defined timescale of the interaction. But tracking the star formation
process has proved to be difficult: the tidal dwarf galaxies with young stars
showed no evidence of the molecular gas out of which new stars form. Here we
report the discovery of molecular gas (carbon monoxide emission) in two tidal
dwarf galaxies. In both cases, the molecular gas peaks at the same location as
the maximum in atomic-hydrogen density, unlike most gas-rich galaxies. We infer
from this that the molecular gas formed from the HI, rather than being torn in
molecular form from the interacting galaxies. Star formation in the tidal
dwarfs appears to mimic that process in normal spiral galaxies like our own.
