New life found - changes previous standards of DNA

[EQnoble]

I was perusing one of my favorite sites (NASA) and came across this interesting find the other day, thought I'd share...

The following is from NASA's website @ http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/astrobiology_toxic_chemical.html where you can read this epic and awesome article...Thank you for this NASA, keep it up.

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, 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.

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/astrobiology_toxic_chemical.html

I have my own theories on the origin of and now pronounced new life but I'm most interested to hear in what anyone else can gather from the facts that are out there at this point. I believe the full study will be published soon but in the mean time some informal guesses at what could be the cause or effects of this could be quite entertaining.

 

[Daniel77]

I have been reading on this and find it very fascinating. I have no opinions yet on the meaning of it, but I have always believed that other lifeforms HAVE to be out there somewhere. Previously our search for "Alien Life" assumed they had to have oxygen etc. This new finding means that there is probably micro-organisms of all tyoes that do not need any of the stuff we need to survive. This opens up the entire world to a..well a new world.

 

[Anthony Parsons]

Was this the thing that hit the news recently about extraterrestrial life found? Or something along those lines?

 

[Sami]

That's one small step for microorganism, a giant leap for NASA funding.

 

[EQnoble]

Was this the thing that hit the news recently about extraterrestrial life found? Or something along those lines?

It sure would be my friend, isn't it just exciting, every science text book in all schools must now be updated or replaced ( unless of course you don't believe in science or dna)

That's one small step for microorganism, a giant leap for NASA funding.

Well I will say that's one government agency in the executive branch that I have no problem giving my equally apportioned tax % to so long as they publish the goldmine of information the have and continue to acquire.

My theory: This is not new life, but a new situation in which over the course of time, revealed a secret that has long been here.

 

[EQnoble]

That's one small step for microorganism, a giant leap for NASA funding.

That's epic,
I almost had a complete duh moment and then I remembered this...witty

 

[FreshFroot]

Pretty interesting stuff, NASA always have some neat research being done.

 

[EQnoble]

Pretty interesting stuff, NASA always have some neat research being done.

I agree with that so much. Though they usually have a primary objective of things outside of the earth's atmosphere, they do a lot on the surface here as well. It would seem to me though, that these two places have overlapped here as my theory is this.

The facts say that Mono lake has been isolated for about 50 years I believe. Before this there was a water system connecting it to other bodies therefor one could infer that there was a constant flow which constantly diluted this particular lake up until half a century ago. They found life in the form of a bacteria that replaces one of the key building blocks that up until now we have known as the only template for life. The fact that it uses arsenic to replace phosphorus which is a component of DNA, RNA, ATP, and also the phospholipids that form all cell membranes totally changes the possibilities.

I pretty much think some time LONG ago, some space rock of sorts impacted the surface of earth some time between a period after the Late Heavy Bombardment and up to a time slightly after the beginning of the Neogene period that contained some isotopes not currently on or a constituent of the earth itself that remained in the rock possibly and over time the ceasing of anything flow to or from the lake gave it a place to thrive and with the gasses present it found it's niche. This again is just part of what came to my mind when I first read a legitimate article about it.

 

[Dragapult]

This is great news, it makes the possibility of extraterrestrial life for more exciting, since we now know one doesn't necessarily needs elements such as oxygen or carbon to survive.

 

[Sami]

My theory: This is not new life, but a new situation in which over the course of time, revealed a secret that has long been here.

Yep. It seems like: "So the shuttle program is shutting down. Let's umm... Hey look! New Life!"

It does look very interesting though. I don't pretend to know much about NASA, just saying.