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Osayidan wrote on 2010-12-01 02:47
NASA - NASA Sets News Conference on Astrobiology Discovery; Science Journal Has Embargoed Details Until 2 p.m. EST On Dec. 2
I'll be at work then but hope to get a stream of it later D:
Sounds rather big. I doubt they found any life though like most others are saying.
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Time wrote on 2010-12-01 02:51
Sounds super interesting!
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Cucurbita wrote on 2010-12-01 04:27
If they found life it would be quite a bit of controversy.
Cannot wait for the reveal.
Whatever it is, its pretty big at least. And thats something to be interested in.
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gentrone wrote on 2010-12-01 10:40
Meanwhile, in NASA press conference:
[Image: http://www.stardusttrailers.com/gallery_film/Mars_Attacks(190610221414)mars_attack_4.jpg]
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Osayidan wrote on 2010-12-01 12:14
Quote from Cucurbita;233941:
If they found life it would be quite a bit of controversy.
Cannot wait for the reveal.
Whatever it is, its pretty big at least. And thats something to be interested in.
I think it might have to do with the discovery of oxygen on one of saturn's or jupiter's (forgot which) moons. It's too cold for life as we know it to develop there though. But it might mean that oxygen atmospheres are not rare.
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Phunkie wrote on 2010-12-01 14:12
Now this is very interesting.
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Athde wrote on 2010-12-01 15:04
Meanwhile, the few wives of those people have decided on what the future astronauts costumes will be.
[Image: http://openbooksociety.com/wp-content/uploads/HLIC/02faacc00168e34e17ae9bdfa03f21dd.jpg]
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Cannibal wrote on 2010-12-01 15:42
I think I'll be tuning into this.
/nerd.
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Zid wrote on 2010-12-01 16:53
Probably found evidence of once-sustainable life conditions again.
But I'll be listening too.
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Cucurbita wrote on 2010-12-01 17:27
Quote from Osayidan;234203:
I think it might have to do with the discovery of oxygen on one of saturn's or jupiter's (forgot which) moons. It's too cold for life as we know it to develop there though. But it might mean that oxygen atmospheres are not rare.
But they found that out a while ago.
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Osayidan wrote on 2010-12-03 03:25
Quote from Cucurbita;234489:
But they found that out a while ago.
I read it in the newspaper in late november D:
If my newspaper is that late then I can't trust their weather forecast.
Did anyone watch the conference? I was at work at the time and not bothered to find a stream right now.
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Zid wrote on 2010-12-03 03:32
Here's their big news:
NASA-funded astrobiology research has changed the fundamental knowledge about what comprises all known life on Earth.
Researchers conducting tests in the harsh environment of Mono Lake in California have discovered the first known microorganism on Earth able to thrive and reproduce using the toxic chemical arsenic. The microorganism substitutes arsenic for phosphorus in its cell components.
"The definition of life has just expanded," said Ed Weiler, NASA's associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at the agency's Headquarters in Washington. "As we pursue our efforts to seek signs of life in the solar system, we have to think more broadly, more diversely and consider life as we do not know it."
This finding of an alternative biochemistry makeup will alter biology textbooks and expand the scope of the search for life beyond Earth. The research is published in this week's edition of Science Express.
Carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur are the six basic building blocks of all known forms of life on Earth. Phosphorus is part of the chemical backbone of DNA and RNA, the structures that carry genetic instructions for life, and is considered an essential element for all living cells.
Phosphorus is a central component of the energy-carrying molecule in all cells (adenosine triphosphate) and also the phospholipids that form all cell membranes. Arsenic, which is chemically similar to phosphorus, is poisonous for most life on Earth. Arsenic disrupts metabolic pathways because chemically it behaves similarly to phosphate.
"We know that some microbes can breathe arsenic, but what we've found is a microbe doing something new -- building parts of itself out of arsenic," said Felisa Wolfe-Simon, a NASA Astrobiology Research Fellow in residence at the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, Calif., and the research team's lead scientist. "If something here on Earth can do something so unexpected, what else can life do that we haven't seen yet?"
The newly discovered microbe, strain GFAJ-1, is a member of a common group of bacteria, the Gammaproteobacteria. In the laboratory, the researchers successfully grew microbes from the lake on a diet that was very lean on phosphorus, but included generous helpings of arsenic. When researchers removed the phosphorus and replaced it with arsenic the microbes continued to grow. Subsequent analyses indicated that the arsenic was being used to produce the building blocks of new GFAJ-1 cells.
The key issue the researchers investigated was when the microbe was grown on arsenic did the arsenic actually became incorporated into the organisms' vital biochemical machinery, such as DNA, proteins and the cell membranes. A variety of sophisticated laboratory techniques was used to determine where the arsenic was incorporated.
The team chose to explore Mono Lake because of its unusual chemistry, especially its high salinity, high alkalinity, and high levels of arsenic. This chemistry is in part a result of Mono Lake's isolation from its sources of fresh water for 50 years.
The results of this study will inform ongoing research in many areas, including the study of Earth's evolution, organic chemistry, biogeochemical cycles, disease mitigation and Earth system research. These findings also will open up new frontiers in microbiology and other areas of research.
"The idea of alternative biochemistries for life is common in science fiction," said Carl Pilcher, director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute at the agency's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "Until now a life form using arsenic as a building block was only theoretical, but now we know such life exists in Mono Lake."
The research team included scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz., Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif., Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Penn., and the Stanford Synchroton Radiation Lightsource in Menlo Park, Calif.
NASA's Astrobiology Program in Washington contributed funding for the research through its Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology program and the NASA Astrobiology Institute. NASA's Astrobiology Program supports research into the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life on Earth.
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/astrobiology_toxic_chemical.html
tl;dr NASA found bacteria, in a Californian lake, that aren't carbon-based, but rather arsenic-based. They suggest that astrobiologists be more flexible when searching for planet environments that could harbor (or used to) life, as they now know that life does not need the accepted basic elements (carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur) to thrive.
Osay said something before about this, haha.
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gentrone wrote on 2010-12-03 03:35
lol @ NASA stating the obvious.
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Cucurbita wrote on 2010-12-03 04:33
Quote from gentrone;235737:
lol @ NASA stating the obvious.
Wasn't entirely obvious. Its definitely a huge find. I mean, ARSENIC? Life made of freaking poison!
Still a bit disappointed.
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gentrone wrote on 2010-12-03 12:36
Quote from Cucurbita;235806:
Still a bit disappointed.
Indeed ._.