An example of a metaphor that has become adopted into scientific language:
"If, as Pauling and Zuckerkandl speculated, proteins evolved at a constant rate, you could use differences in the sequence of proteins to calculate the time that these species shared [a] common ancestor….Proteins in the bodies of different species could serve as a kind of clock for understanding evolution: no rocks or fossils would be needed to tell the time in the history of life. This idea, so utterly outrageous when it was first proposed, is now known as the 'molecular clock' and is used in many instances to calculate the antiquity of diverse species."
Neil Shubin
Shubin, N. (2020). Some Assembly Required. Decoding four billion years of life, from ancient fossils to DNA. Oneworld Publications.
