I've just watched the news conference. It was about the amazing finding that a biologist made, using organisms in a naturally high-arsenic environment from Mono Lake, Calif. She had them reproduce in a lab where they had access to NO phosphorus but lots of arsenic. They thrived, with their DNA replacing arsenic where phosphorus would be. This changes the paradigm that science students have learned since DNA was discovered, that phosphorus is a basic component to all life. These are life forms that have no phosphorus, but use arsenic where the phosphorus should be -- largely making up the DNA backbone. The significance is that we know that life in the universe doesn't necessarily need phosphorus, so a phosphorus-free environment might still be a good place to search for life. It also means that it's possible life could look very different than we have expected, maybe using other molecules than the kinds that earthly life uses. Finally, it implies that maybe life developed in geothermal vents that have a lot of arsenic, and then it switched to phosphorus. It is a fascinating discovery. -- Joe --- On Thu, 12/2/10, erikhansen@thebluezone.net <erikhansen@thebluezone.net> wrote:
From: erikhansen@thebluezone.net <erikhansen@thebluezone.net> Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] NASA Sets News Conference on Astrobiology Discovery To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Date: Thursday, December 2, 2010, 1:03 PM
Soo much, for none of the bodies ever being discovered. Are they going to reopen the investigation?
On 12/2/10, Dale Hooper <Dale.Hooper@sdl.usu.edu> wrote:
My understanding is that this is about an organism found in a California lake that lives on arsenic!
They've discovered my ex-mother-in-law in a California lake?
_______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com
_______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com