NASA finds new life form here on Earth!

[3113]

Seriously.

Hours before their special news conference today, the cat is out of the bag: NASA has discovered a completely new life form that doesn't share the biological building blocks of anything currently living in planet Earth. This changes everything.

At their conference today, NASA scientist Felisa Wolfe Simon will announce that they have found a bacteria whose DNA is completely alien to what we know today. Instead of using phosphorus, the bacteria uses arsenic. All life on Earth is made of six components: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur. Every being, from the smallest amoeba to the largest whale, share the same life stream. Our DNA blocks are all the same.

But not this one. This one is completely different. Discovered in the poisonous Mono Lake, California, this bacteria is made of arsenic, something that was thought to be completely impossible.

 

[sr71plt]

I wondered what their revelation would be. This is a surprise.

 

[rgraham666]

The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.

I love stuff like this. Maybe we as a species will learn a little humility from things like this.

 

[Liar]

I've always wondered when I've heard scientists say that the only places to look for life out there is where there's carbon, phosphor and water. As if that's the only environment that can create chemistry complex enough to be self sustaining. Ít always seemed unimaginative to me.

 

[trysail]

The press conference and news release is not scheduled until 1400 EDT. Meanwhile,



http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.160.5360&rep=rep1&type=pdf


The microbial arsenic cycle in Mono Lake, California
Ronald S. Oremland, John F. Stolz, James T. Hollibaugh
doi:10.1016/j.femsec.2003.12.016

Received 26 August 2003; received in revised form 23 December 2003; accepted 31 December 2003

First published online 14 February 2004

...Because of the unusual characteristics of alkaline, hypersaline environments in general and Mono Lake in particular, their bacterial communities have been studied for many years...


...Two As(V)-respiring anaerobic bacilli, B. arsenicoselenatis (strain E1H) and B. selenitireducens (strain MLS10), were isolated from Mono Lake...


...Arsenate-respiring bacteria, as well as sulfate reducers, were also found in the water column of Mono Lake...


...some 16 species of arsenate respirers have been reported in the literature since 1994 [24], and the list is growing even as this manuscript was being written...

 

[mynameisben]

What's all this hullaballoo about an alien life form? If a life form is native to our humble planet, but we've been too inept all these years to have discovered it until now, how does that make it alien? Oh, right. The presence of a native Earth atom in its structure turns it into E.T.

Granted, NASA has found something novel. But new species on Earth are identified and catalogued nearly every single day. Discovery of microbial life forms are particularly common these days . The claim that "this changes everything" is a bit overstated, don't ya think? It's a sound bite for the sensation-driven press. It's puff and fluff.

Toxic bacteria. Bah, humbug! You can't eat it. You can't tax it. Paparazzi from the four corners of the globe will never descend upon Mono Lake, CA. I can guarantee you that.

What changes? Perhaps a new religion will crop up. But that happens every time a retired science fiction writer farts. You're never going to see glossy brochures at the travel agency, tempting you to vacation at arsenic Mono Lake and get your picture taken with a lethal bacterium against a desert wasteland backdrop. High school and community college students will memorize one more Latin derivative name all the way up till finals week, but that's about it.

NASA used to send men to the moon. NASA used to reach for the stars! Now, NASA is reduced to poking around in swills, looking for new ways to get their name in the press in a desperate attempt to remain relevant. Decades of merciless governmental cutbacks have carved the heart and soul out of a once great American institution. A story like this, trumped up by NASA, only makes me sad.

Now, if NASA had discovered a new 52-foot carbon based life form with 500 vaginas, then I might be interested.

 

[squarejohn]

Interesting, but it doesn't change anything for me. This reminds me of the time a few years back when somebody picked up a rock someplace in Antarctica and declared it was from Mars. More then that, it was announced that the rock was covered with fossilized life forms from Mars. The amazing thing about that was so many people believed it. I imagine that somebody thought these publicity stunts would help them with their grant proposals.

 

[sr71plt]

What's all this hullaballoo about an alien life form? If a life form is native to our humble planet, but we've been too inept all these years to have discovered it until now, how does that make it alien? Oh, right. The presence of a native Earth atom in its structure turns it into E.T.

I think this is a good point. "Inept" is a bit extreme, though, I think. Being well adjusted, I think, would mean we shouldn't hold the belief that we should know everything about everything at this point and that we've been inept if we don't.

 

[3113]

What's all this hullaballoo about an alien life form? If a life form is native to our humble planet, but we've been too inept all these years to have discovered it until now, how does that make it alien?

Ooops! Sorry. Did I forget to mention that the life form was found beside a microscopic flying saucer with a license plate from the Andromeda Galaxy?

Here's a photo of the saucer and the life form:

http://images.coolchaser.com/themes/t/186743-i38.photobucket.com-albums-e149-Moni35242-Toons-marvin-6.gif

 

[mynameisben]

Ooops! Sorry. Did I forget to mention that the life form was found beside a microscopic flying saucer with a license plate from the Andromeda Galaxy?

Here's a photo of the saucer and the life form:

http://images.coolchaser.com/themes/t/186743-i38.photobucket.com-albums-e149-Moni35242-Toons-marvin-6.gif

Well, now. This changes everything!

 

[Verdad]

The way the news was trumpeted was ridiculous ("NASA about to announce alien life!") but it’s actually a pretty exciting discovery. At first I thought it was just another extremophile, able merely to tolerate arsenic, but a whole alternative biochemistry is neat enough to deserve some attention.

 

[R. Richard]

I was hoping that the announcement concerned finding an honest politician. Only in my dreams.

 

[sr71plt]

I was hoping that the announcement concerned finding an honest politician. Only in my dreams.

Ah, another "I hate everyone who isn't glorious me" poster.

 

[Weird Harold]

The [Washington] Post's satire columnist Alexandra Petri had this to say about the new discovery:

I picture this bacteria as sort of a hipster. "Oh, you're still using phosphorus?" it asks. "Yeah, I liked phosphorus during its blue period, but I've moved on to arsenic." "Isn't that lethal?" a regular earth bacteria asks, nervously. "It's an acquired taste," the arsenic bacteria responds.

Apparently, the place to find this sort of bacteria is Mono Lake, California. Admittedly, the announcement that someone has found a totally alien life-form in California is not exactly breaking news. Usually the California response to finding completely alien life is to give it a reality TV show.

Still, this is big news. ​

I liked this take on the story.

On a more serious note, I'm concerned about the lack of comprehension shown by many of the reporters/bloggers posting articles onthe 'Net. I keep seeing this comment, "However, this discovery refutes the previously accepted idea that extraterrestrial life forms would be made out of these same DNA building blocks," or something similar. Whoever wrote that clearly isn't a fan of the original Star Trek or of any of a half-century or more of Science Fiction dealing with First Contact and the problems of communicating with Sillicon based life, Methane Breathers, and a host of other theoretical alien biochemistries.

The prrof that at least one of the theoretical alien biochemistries proposed by Science Fiction is in fact viable and exists in nature is a huge discovery, but it hardly overturns an "accepted idea."

On another note, this could present problems for the Non-human category -- if you and your lover are mutually poisonous, it could complicate the romance just a bit.

 

[sr71plt]

On another note, this could present problems for the Non-human category -- if you and your lover are mutually poisonous, it could complicate the romance just a bit.

Well, THIS explains a lot. I thought it was just bad breath that killed her.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Bumping this because my random surfing this morning led me to an explanation of the find from a biologist;

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/12/its_not_an_arsenic-based_life.php

and
http://scienceblogs.com/webeasties/2010/12/guest_post_arsenate-based_dna.php?utm_source=editorspicks

 

[Guest]

*deleted*

 

[OzoneRed]

Bumping this because my random surfing this morning led me to an explanation of the find from a biologist;

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/12/its_not_an_arsenic-based_life.php

and
http://scienceblogs.com/webeasties/2010/12/guest_post_arsenate-based_dna.php?utm_source=editorspicks

Thanks. That was the clearest explanation I've seen. Kind of an anticlimax, really.

 

[Tx Tall Tales]

Bumping this because my random surfing this morning led me to an explanation of the find from a biologist;

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/12/its_not_an_arsenic-based_life.php

and
http://scienceblogs.com/webeasties/2010/12/guest_post_arsenate-based_dna.php?utm_source=editorspicks

Very nice explanation. Still fascinating, if not earth shattering. The first life form found who's DNA was not required to be phosphate based, although there appears to be a lot of discussion about the validity of the methods in the study. Intrigued me.

 

[amicus]

Nice links...appreciated...

There were experiments in the 50's, under laboratory conditions, subjecting science's best estimates of the 'primordial goo', to electrical bombardment, such as might be expected from lightning strikes and lo and behold, the basic building blocks of life were created in a test tube.

In a real sense, mankind is only fifty years or so, into examining the origins of life. Some think that earth was 'seeded' by meteors and they back that up by documenting discoveries of the basic elements of life, as we know it, contained in space debris.

Not being a scientist; I am not limited to the myopia that years of concentrated studies imposes upon the scientific community and I am fortunate to be able to incorporate speculation and even the works of science fictiors authors to enrich my perception of the state of the art.

'Pure' science and research, without the necessity of productivity in terms of immediate returns on investment, is an amazing concept, made possible by societies that have a surplus of wealth and can invest in such speculative endeavors.

But...of course, it has to mean something, lest it be categorized as librarians simply organizing knowledge for the sake of knowledge, or art, for the sake of art... to be useful it has to enlighten mankind as to the human condition, or it becomes a process of counting the possible angels on the head of a pin.

I would suggest, from my very inferior scientific platform, that the most valuable conclusion from all the studies referenced thus far, that 'life' is tenacious and almost infinitely adaptable to any environment, which is a monumental conclusion. However, in terms of evolution, up the scale, as we know it on earth, one must acknowledge that these marginal life forms have little or no chance of evolving into sentient creatures.

I would simulataneously entwine that with our knowledge of planet formation, distance from the nurturing star, the absolute necessity of a 'moon' to regulate the environment, that absolute necessity of an Iron Core planet, with a magnetosphere to deflect solar and cosmic radiation, and a host of other essential conditions for 'life' to move along the ladder of evolution from simple to complex.

That has led me to seriously question the Saganistic, 'billions and billions', of possible sentient life in our galaxy and indeed the universe at large.

It may well be...and no one knows or can logically predict otherwise, that 'sentient' life, may be a matter of one in billions; a rarity in the universe and that man, as fucked up as we are, may be all alone and beyond the reach of any other sentient form of life....if indeed, there is another.

Ponder that...my friends...

Amicus

 

[Stella_Omega]

I am a big fan of this man;

Michael Russell

 

[baphemetis]

NASA used to send men to the moon. NASA used to reach for the stars! Now, NASA is reduced to poking around in swills, looking for new ways to get their name in the press in a desperate attempt to remain relevant.

I can't tell if you're serious or if you're just trolling.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Very nice explanation. Still fascinating, if not earth shattering. The first life form found who's DNA was not required to be phosphate based, although there appears to be a lot of discussion about the validity of the methods in the study. Intrigued me.

Actually, it still is mostly phosphate based, if I read those articles correctly. they used arsenic instead in some parts but not all.

There is still phosphate in the nutrient mixture, and the microbes may be scavenging phosphate from their dead siblings.

I can't tell if you're serious or if you're just trolling.

Ben is an engineer, as can be inferred from his av.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

It does lead to some possible plot bunnies but not in the genres I like to write.