Posted on 12/01/2010 9:34:48 AM PST by LibWhacker
Incredible microbe found in California lake
Nasa scientists are set to announce that bacteria have been discovered that can survive in arsenic, an element previously thought too toxic to support life, it can be revealed.
In a press conference scheduled for tomorrow evening, researchers will unveil the discovery of the incredible microbe - which substitutes arsenic for phosphorus to sustain its growth - in a lake in California.
The remarkable discovery raises the prospect that life could exist on other planets which do not have phosphorus in the atmosphere, which had previously been thought vital for life to begin.
But it will come as a major disappointment for those who had hoped Nasa was about to announce that it had found life on other planets.
Nasa sparked alien hysteria around the world with its announcement of a major press conference to be held tomorrow.
It induced feverish debate as to whether scientists were about to announce that they had discovered life on other worlds.
But after The Sun broke the embargo on the story this morning, it can be revealed that the truth is rather closer to home.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
But how will this help build up the muslims self-image????
“Fairly weak”
I would guess that anything that thrives in arsenic is fairly strong.
This is a good find, and expands the possibility of discovering life in places we never would have considered looking at.
Archebacteria is a good example of an unrelated class of life.
It has a sulfur electron transport system, instead of oxygen, and is therefore unrelated to all life with an oxygen based electron transport system.
This bacteria lives at deep ocean volcanic vents. I studied it for a bit.
Are anoxyic bacteria that don't use oxygen at all (and find it quite toxic) unrelated at all to aerobic bacteria? Not according to anybody I have ever read on the subject.
Citation please, and can you address the universal DNA code and variants of the same ubiquitous “housekeeping” genes that are present with variation in ALL living species found upon the Earth?
“Archaea are members of the domain Prokarya and are in a kingdom of their own: Archaea” - first summary point of Link:
http://plantphys.info/organismal/lechtml/archaea.shtml
Where I tend to differ in my thinking from what is illustrated at the link - is that there was one “original cell.”
In any case it cleary shows that archaebacteria are very different - and deserve their own Kingdom of life.
NASA now has an entire bureaucracy dedicated to the field of astrobiology, but it’s main mission is to make the Islamic world feel good about itself. See http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/.
Your tax dollars at work.
Wrong link on earlier post. It should be to NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI).
http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/nai/about/
Very different is not uniquely different and unrelated.
A different Kingdom, but like Plants and Animals, they share the same “Universal Code” that translates DNA genes into functional molecular machine proteins, and have the same ubiquitous “housekeeping” genes.
Now the genes that they share in common have more (mostly) superficial differences that accumulate, but they share genes in common with all other living things on Earth. The most parsimonious explanation for this is they once shared common ancestry.
The “original cell” idea is pretty much discarded. LUCA - the last universal common ancestor is no longer thought of as a particular species or type of cell, but a community of slightly different cellular organisms that swapped genes with each other.
So, allow me to expand on ‘very different.’
Archaea are at least as biologically different from bacteria as you are from a coconut tree.
Have a nice day.
Just what we need — alien invaders who can’t be poisoned.
You as well.
Maybe I’m narrow minded, but if you can’t talk to it, pet it, or at least watch it running around, I’m not sure finding microbial life elsewhere is going to ring my bell.
OK, it will be a huge deal but some bacteria swimming in arsenic well, it only goes so far.
Here’s NASA’s “big story” about extraterrestrial life.
NASA breathlessly announces they’ve found life on Earth!
I knew it was a trump. Look that word up. All the PR bluster of a big announcement. Stirring up the old black magic UFO fever!
An interesting announcement stunk up by the faux fanfare.
Yeah, it's just another NASA hype, as you said it would be.
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