Life is more resilient and adaptable than we imagined

[TFOGGuys]

http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/enterprise-apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228500210&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

No phosphorus to build DNA with? Use arsenic instead.....

[mathman1000]

I heard that story on NPR this morning.....fasinating!

[Keyser Soze]

I heard that story on NPR this morning.....fasinating!

I see why your name isn't Spellman1000 :lol:

[salsashark]

I, for one, welcome our new arsenic based overlords.

[mathman1000]

I see why your name isn't Spellman1000 :lol:




(yep, you got that right)

:doublefinger: :lol:

[Snowman]

I like to think of all the trillion of life forms on other worlds looking up at their night sky and seeing our star with its small little worlds circling and wondering how nice it would be to bulldoze and off ramp through there.

[Sarge]

Does that mean they're susceptible to Polonium poisoning? :think:

[The GECCO]

There's one in every crowd


Not every researcher during the press conference was so enthusiastic about the finding, however. Steven Benner, distinguished fellow for the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution -- who admittedly said he was on hand to dampen the fervor over the discovery -- called it "an exceptional result" that needs "exceptional evidence to support it. We nonetheless find it interesting," he said.
What a tool...

[mathman1000]

There's one in every crowd


What a tool...


He was just pissed because he didn't discover it.

[Sarge]

Nobody gets my joke? :cry:

[Wrider]

Nobody gets my joke? :cry:

I got it! Now we just need some Head and Shoulders to kill it!

[Sarge]

The only thing I could find that contains Polonium is tobacco, and plant fertilizer. Not quite as epic as Head & Shoulders.

[Wrider]

The only thing I could find that contains Polonium is tobacco, and plant fertilizer. Not quite as epic as Head & Shoulders.

Well at least we know that getting them to smoke will definitely kill them right?

[dirkterrell]

I wouldn't get too excited about this just yet. There is an unfortunate tendency these days to proclaim some amazing discovery in the press and generate lots of buzz (most especially at NASA), only to find out that it wasn't quite so amazing. This topic is way outside of my area of expertise, so I can't comment on it directly but I have been following discussions between people who do know the topic pretty well and there are lots of unanswered questions that will have to be addressed. It might turn out to be pretty cool. It might turn old to be similar to the cold fusion hoopla. We'll have to let the research community ferret it out.

Dirk

[dirkterrell]

I wouldn't get too excited about this just yet. There is an unfortunate tendency these days to proclaim some amazing discovery in the press and generate lots of buzz (most especially at NASA), only to find out that it wasn't quite so amazing. This topic is way outside of my area of expertise, so I can't comment on it directly but I have been following discussions between people who do know the topic pretty well and there are lots of unanswered questions that will have to be addressed. It might turn out to be pretty cool. It might turn old to be similar to the cold fusion hoopla. We'll have to let the research community ferret it out.


Looks like it was the typical "publish now, proclaim it to the press and figure it out later" approach that seems to happen frequently these days. Turns out this was almost certainly a case of sample contamination. My buddy Phil Plait had something to say about it today:

http://mblogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/01/23/independent-researchers-find-no-evidence-for-arsenic-life-in-mono-lake/

[mdub]

Don't be surprise if people are acting strange and you see pods...