NASA Discovers bacteria which uses Arsenic

[lilyannerose]

[downbeatplumb]

Thats both interesting and disappointing I was hoping for ET.


But wait

This means that life started on earth at least twice, which means it isnt quite as hard as previously thought.

How long will it take the literal creationists to shoe horn this into their dogma I wonder

[Anomalocaris]

Seems like multiple abiogenesis.

[Jaysyn]

[downbeatplumb]

Seems like multiple abiogenesis.

Beat you by about a second

[lilyannerose]

Thats both interesting and disappointing I was hoping for ET.


But wait

This means that life started on earth at least twice, which means it isnt quite as hard as previously thought.

How long will it take the literal creationists to shoe horn this into their dogma I wonder

I was sort of hoping for ET myself!

---

Regarding the abiogenesis comments, I don't have a science background, could you expand a bit on it? I would appreciate!

[Lethe]

Interesting, I'm looking forward to hearing more, though I can't say I was expected a new type of life on Earth with "NASA" in the title.

[orogenicman]

I don't think this is an issue of multiple abiogenesis at all. All this means is that a bacterium living in an extreme environment has evolved to an extreme environment (albeit one that was rich in arsenic and poor in phosphorus). So, for instance, no one is proposing (certainly not based on any data I know of) that these bacteria first formed back in the primordial soup during Earth's early beginnings. What these results have shown is that some bacteria are capable of replacing phosphorus with arsenic, an ability which not only affects their DNA makeup, but also their ability to manufacture certain necessary energy compounds, such as ATP. Apparently, they were able to adapt by producing a different energy molecule that uses arsenic instead of phosphorus. I eagerly await results from others to see if these findings hold up, and to see what details are filled in.

[Paul the Human]

The reason this is important to NASA is that it greatly expands the possibility of life existing 'elsewhere', like Titan or Europa, perhaps. That is an exciting possibility! It changes the concept of 'life as we know it' to a fascinating extent, because it means that lifeforms may very well exist in environments that were previously considered unfit for life. It makes me wish I could live long enough to learn what we'll find out there someday.

[HeyItsZeus]

The reason this is important to NASA is that it greatly expands the possibility of life existing 'elsewhere', like Titan or Europa, perhaps. That is an exciting possibility! It changes the concept of 'life as we know it' to a fascinating extent, because it means that lifeforms may very well exist in environments that were previously considered unfit for life. It makes me wish I could live long enough to learn what we'll find out there someday.

I actually wrote an essay on this exact thing for school once (and people thought I was crazy)