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Scientists: NASA’s alleged discovery of arsenic-based life is crap
Hot Air ^ | 9:28 pm on December 7, 2010 | Allahpundit

Posted on 12/08/2010 4:54:14 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach

I gave it the front-page treatment when the big announcement was made, so now the big skeptical response gets front-page treatment too. Simply devastating — so much so that I wonder why it fell to an outfit like Slate to put it together. Did the Times or WaPo not have enough of an inkling about NASA’s discovery to survey naysayers before writing up their reports on the “discovery”? This information would have come in a lot handier when everyone was still paying attention to this story.

As soon Redfield started to read the paper, she was shocked. “I was outraged at how bad the science was,” she told me.

Redfield blogged a scathing attack on Saturday. Over the weekend, a few other scientists took to the Internet as well. Was this merely a case of a few isolated cranks? To find out, I reached out to a dozen experts on Monday. Almost unanimously, they think the NASA scientists have failed to make their case. “It would be really cool if such a bug existed,” said San Diego State University’s Forest Rohwer, a microbiologist who looks for new species of bacteria and viruses in coral reefs. But, he added, “none of the arguments are very convincing on their own.” That was about as positive as the critics could get. “This paper should not have been published,” said Shelley Copley of the University of Colorado…

In fact, says Harvard microbiologist Alex Bradley, the NASA scientists unknowingly demonstrated the flaws in their own experiment. They immersed the DNA in water as they analyzed it, he points out. Arsenic compounds fall apart quickly in water, so if it really was in the microbe’s genes, it should have broken into fragments, Bradley wrote Sunday in a guest post on the blog We, Beasties. But the DNA remained in large chunks—presumably because it was made of durable phosphate. Bradley got his Ph.D. under MIT professor Roger Summons, a professor at MIT who co-authored the 2007 weird-life report. Summons backs his former student’s critique.

But how could the bacteria be using phosphate when they weren’t getting any in the lab? That was the point of the experiment, after all. It turns out the NASA scientists were feeding the bacteria salts which they freely admit were contaminated with a tiny amount of phosphate. It’s possible, the critics argue, that the bacteria eked out a living on that scarce supply. As Bradley notes, the Sargasso Sea supports plenty of microbes while containing 300 times less phosphate than was present in the lab cultures.

The authors of the study declined to address the criticisms when contacted by Slate, but even a dummy like me wondered whether the bacteria might simply have been surviving like camels on tiny amounts of phosphorus instead of incorporating arsenic into its DNA. The theory proposed by at least one skeptic, in fact, is that the arsenic isn’t being incorporated at all; it’s simply adhering to the phosphorus that forms the framework of the DNA double-helix like gum on the bottom of a shoe.

Follow the link and read the whole thing. It’s essential if you tracked the story last week when it first broke. Exit question one via Greg Pollowitz: Did NASA have any financial motive in hyping this discovery? Exit question two: Should the GOP hold hearings if the study falls apart? C’mon — C-SPAN testimony on freaky deaky microbes would be riveting television.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: arsenic; exobiology; nasa; panspermia; xplanets
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To: MWF054
I'm not arguing the discussion, just the fact none of the science has been replicated for that type of critical review.

I'm always skeptical of any new developments until I can,
a) examine the data,
b) critique the process,
c)replicate results(or not),
draw conclusions based on experimentation.

THEN, and only then should there be criticism, not 'shoot-from-the-lip' commentaries made to promote blog hits.

I will wait until the experts in this field have the time to examine, experiment, resolve issues, and verify or not any repeatability or deficiency in the NASA claim.

If false, I'll be the first to burn them at the stake, but if proven true, then a lot of crow meals are going to be served.

41 posted on 12/08/2010 6:22:33 AM PST by Wizdum
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To: SpaceBar

Hey, I wear LONG sleeved, thank you very much.


42 posted on 12/08/2010 6:24:53 AM PST by Wizdum
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To: SE Mom
Although it is heartbreaking, I try to remain optimistic. There is in this solar system alone, riches to be mined which could improve human life on this planet beyond the wildest dreams of all humanity. God placed it there and I believe throughout the glory days of NASA God informed mankind, and God probably said, there it is, take advantage of the riches, if you are up to the task. God will smile on mankind, I believe, if mankind will do for people what needs doing. Following the law, and being up to the task.

Thanking you and your Screaming Eagle again, SE Mom. As all here, on this forum are aware, America needs more Screaming Eagles and people with the Right Stuff.

43 posted on 12/08/2010 6:30:58 AM PST by no-to-illegals (Please God, Bless and Protect Our Men and Women in Uniform with Victory. Amen.)
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To: sodpoodle

Michelle Obama was going to add arsenic to the CRACKa food pyramid;) FIXED THAT!


44 posted on 12/08/2010 6:31:11 AM PST by dusttoyou ("Progressives" are wee-weeing all over themselves, Foc nobama)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
I think some reconstructive surgery is needed at NASA

An excellent comment. Reconstructive surgery would help to redefine NASA's, once upon a time, mission, before too many politicians took over.

45 posted on 12/08/2010 6:50:13 AM PST by no-to-illegals (Please God, Bless and Protect Our Men and Women in Uniform with Victory. Amen.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Science at work.


46 posted on 12/08/2010 6:54:00 AM PST by antiRepublicrat
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

NASA “science” is devoted to faking the data, from Global Warming complete fraud to phony arsenic based life forms.


47 posted on 12/08/2010 7:03:20 AM PST by FormerACLUmember (Character is defined by how we treat those who society says have no value.)
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To: muawiyah

I am too close to NASA engineering without being in it to be able to defend NASA in any quadrant. I assume, based on the NASA global climate science, that NASA science is about the same as NASA engineering.

Your analysis is, of course, quite reasoned and damps my tendency to see this thing through my NASA colored lenses.

The rest of your post is as imaginative as it is entertaining. :) Gave me a chuckle.

The NappyOne


48 posted on 12/08/2010 7:09:09 AM PST by NappyOne
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To: Wizdum
The downside is you don't get laid a lot.

Robert Klein did a great bit about this, which I paraphrase thusly:

"
We idolize rock stars and baseball players, and then we ignore the true heroes, like the Jonas Salks that give us life-saving cures.

They slave away all their lives over microscopes and they can't even get laid!

You ever heard of a scientist groupie?

(Imitating a teeny-booper:) Ooooh, baby, I love that hairline and that pocket protector and those little horn-rimmed glasses! Come here baby, I want you!!
"

49 posted on 12/08/2010 7:11:18 AM PST by Erasmus (Personal goal: Have a bigger carbon footprint than Tony Robbins.)
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To: SpaceBar

You and Robert Klein are on the same page, I think. See my post #49.


50 posted on 12/08/2010 7:14:53 AM PST by Erasmus (Personal goal: Have a bigger carbon footprint than Tony Robbins.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

I guess that is what we call Islamic Science. Disregard the facts and go with your feelings.


51 posted on 12/08/2010 7:29:54 AM PST by ImJustAnotherOkie (zerogottago)
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To: NappyOne
One more point ~ humorous or humorless ~ NASA has now inherited the MONO LAKE PROBLEM ~ Google.com reveals that Mono Lake has 2,480,000 references on the net. "Save Mono Lake" has 195,000 references.

Lake Maxincuckee, which most people have never heard of, has only 221 references. Yet, it has FRESH WATER ~ probably as much as the people of the City of Los Angeles drink in a year.

Then there's Churubusco, another place almost no one has heard of. It has 4,200,000 references on the net ~ and that's MOSTLY related to a battle undertaken in the Mexican-American War.

Cherubusco Indiana ~ a very tiny town ~ has about 42,000 references. It is near a lake that is exceptionally deep and contains a giant snapping turtle that can slash steel netting to pieces. This thing has come out of the lake from time to time and eaten herds of cattle.

It don't need no stinkin' arsenic!

52 posted on 12/08/2010 7:44:39 AM PST by muawiyah
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Hmmm... “Crap-based life” has a better ring to it and really does describe many folks at NASA and in Gov’t!


53 posted on 12/08/2010 7:46:40 AM PST by SparkyBass
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To: ClearCase_guy

Okay,take the dino story. How does one get a grant to find out more without some sort of exposure? Nobody gets a grant sitting in a lab and not publishing. A scientist working for a corporation on the other hand will be paid while not publishing.


54 posted on 12/08/2010 8:00:34 AM PST by wiggen (The teacher card. When the racism card just won't work.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

It’s not NASA’s fault:

http://home.slac.stanford.edu/pressreleases/2010/20101202.htm

(Challanger belongs to Morton Thiokol)


55 posted on 12/08/2010 8:02:13 AM PST by sasquatch
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

First a more Muslim friendly NASA.... Now a more alien friendly NASA....

Criticizing these microbes is racial discrimination!!! sarc


56 posted on 12/08/2010 8:09:17 AM PST by tired&retired
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To: hadaclueonce

NASA unofficial motto,
“punching holes in the ozone layer to find out why the ozone layer is shrinking”


57 posted on 12/08/2010 12:55:26 PM PST by hadaclueonce ("Endeavor to persevere.")
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

When I considered what NASA was saying, I was extremely skeptical, and wanted to see some good, hard science to support it.

Sounds like their claims are falling apart.

But there is another angle about this whole thing. Seems to me that they come out fairly regular-like lately with an announcement like “Wow!!! We found a planet just like Earth” or “Wow!!! Several of Jupiters moons could support life”

I think we’re being prepped for something... some kind of actual disclosure...


58 posted on 12/08/2010 1:05:35 PM PST by djf (Touch my junk and I'll break yur mug!!!)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

The sooner we shut down this massive legacy of LBJ’s corruption, the sooner real space exploration gets strengthened.


59 posted on 12/08/2010 1:09:28 PM PST by bvw
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To: KevinDavis; annie laurie; garbageseeker; Knitting A Conundrum; Viking2002; Ernest_at_the_Beach; ...

the earlier FR topics: covery; Embargoed Details Until 2 p.m. EST On Dec. 2
 
X-Planets
· join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic · subscribe ·
Google news searches: exoplanet · exosolar · extrasolar ·

60 posted on 12/11/2010 6:04:37 AM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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