New life form thrives on Arsenic

[Charles Pegge]

NASA finds new form of life... on Earth

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20101203/tsc-nasa-finds-new-form-of-life-on-earth-e123fef.html

[Petr Schreiber]

I must say I was expecting presentation of bacterial life form on other planet than Earth, so the discovery on Earth was a slight disappointment to me (caused by probably unrealistic expectations and too much time spent reading sci-fi books).

Their discovery on Earth is of course interesting, but fact that life has ability to adapt to totally crazy conditions is known (and still surprising me when watching documents about nature).


Petr

[Charles Pegge]

Hi Petr,

Wherever there is complex carbon chemistry, there is a very high chance of finding organisms. Who knows what creatures thrive in the methane gas clouds of Jupiter and its moons.

Charles

[Petr Schreiber]

Hi Charles,

there is always chance. I will watch the further research with interest :)


Petr

[danbaron]

NASA reminds me of used car salesmen. Whatever they have, they try to sell, and try to convince everyone how great it is. They have to continually do that, because each year they get a new budget from the U.S. government. To me, by far their primary concern is getting funding, and many times they have demonstrated that they will promote the most trivial things like they are history changing. For instance, if I remember correctly, some years ago, they said they had found microbes in a rock on Mars, then, I guess after some time passed, it turned out they didn't.

NASA means, "National Aeronautics and Space Administration". I wonder if anyone asked why they are (it is) studying bacteria in a California lake. Maybe no spaceships lately?

Here's a quote from Felisa Wolfe-Simon, chief discoverer.

"There's an organism on Earth doing something different," said Wolfe-Simon. "We've cracked open the door to what's possible for life elsewhere in the universe. And that's profound."

(She's modest, too.)

Wasn't there sort of a big buildup to this news conference? I think it was a psychological trick. They think that if they act like this is something really big, then, maybe they can convince a lot of people that it really is.

They found a bacteria in California that can substitute arsenic for phosphorous in its DNA. So now, obviously the United States should start a crash program to land astronauts on Mars, before 2020, yes?! (Or, if not Mars, then at least, Mono Lake!!)

Notice also that the mainstream media tried to sell the story just as enthusiastically as NASA did. Are the mainstream media objective reporters, or cheerleaders for the established institutions?

Here is another quote from the article.

NASA has conducted numerous probes at eastern California's Mono Lake, an unusually salty body of water with high arsenic and mineral levels, as it is likely to reflect conditions under which early life evolved on Earth, or perhaps Mars.

Don't want to forget to mention Mars, right?! For NASA, a manned trip to Mars, is like being given a new Rolls Royce, yes or no? And such a trip would probably also solve the world's economic crisis too - do you think?!


(Otherwise, everything is good.)
:p
Dan