Active Users:230 Time:20/05/2024 12:59:02 PM
More Important Than Soccer: Completely new type of DNA discovered beetnemesis Send a noteboard - 02/12/2010 04:48:51 PM
Hours before their special news conference today, the cat is out of the bag: NASA has discovered a completely new life form that doesn't share the biological building blocks of anything currently living in planet Earth. This changes everything.

At their conference today, NASA scientist Felisa Wolfe Simon will announce that they have found a bacteria whose DNA is completely alien to what we know today. Instead of using phosphorus, the bacteria uses arsenic. All life on Earth is made of six components: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur. Every being, from the smallest amoeba to the largest whale, share the same life stream. Our DNA blocks are all the same.

But not this one. This one is completely different. Discovered in the poisonous Mono Lake, California, this bacteria is made of arsenic, something that was thought to be completely impossible. While she and other scientists theorized that this could be possible, this is the first discovery. The implications of this discovery are enormous to our understanding of life itself and the possibility of finding beings in other planets that don't have to be like planet Earth.

No details have been disclosed about the origin or nature of this new life form. We will know more today at 2pm EST but, while this life hasn't been found in another planet, this discovery does indeed change everything we know about biology. I don't know about you but I've not been so excited about a bacteria since my STD tests came back clean. And that's without counting yesterday's announcement on the discovery of a massive number of red dwarf stars, which may harbor trillion of Earths. [NOS—In Dutch]

Suck it, Qatar! But seriously, how cool is this?
I amuse myself.
Hooray for arsenic!
Reply to message
More Important Than Soccer: Completely new type of DNA discovered - 02/12/2010 04:48:51 PM 1429 Views
that is TOTALLY inappropriate - 02/12/2010 04:58:47 PM 643 Views
Of course there is... - 02/12/2010 05:02:30 PM 638 Views
I saw, I'm just not in the proper habit yet - 02/12/2010 05:35:33 PM 757 Views
Crazy awesome. - 02/12/2010 05:07:49 PM 730 Views
Re: Crazy awesome. - 02/12/2010 10:32:56 PM 555 Views
It's confusing, that's for sure. - 03/12/2010 02:01:11 AM 551 Views
lol, or maybe not - 09/12/2010 07:49:19 PM 926 Views
So the movie Evolution was real! - 02/12/2010 05:24:16 PM 638 Views
Nice reference, but not quite. - 02/12/2010 10:32:04 PM 598 Views
Thanks for clearing that up - 02/12/2010 11:23:36 PM 708 Views
Wow. *NM* - 02/12/2010 05:32:08 PM 394 Views
I love how it was found in a massively polluted lake - 02/12/2010 05:35:22 PM 593 Views
The answer to your question is: Pretty damn cool. *NM* - 02/12/2010 05:33:54 PM 387 Views
Goddamnit I am SO PISSED that I have a meeting at 2!!! - 02/12/2010 05:50:21 PM 570 Views
I won't pretend I know enough about biology to understand the impact of this - 02/12/2010 06:26:24 PM 713 Views
It's like finding a type of rock that eats laughter - 02/12/2010 06:51:15 PM 560 Views
I think I had an ex once that was made of arsenic. *NM* - 02/12/2010 07:10:57 PM 350 Views
Maris? *NM* - 02/12/2010 07:33:14 PM 390 Views
Well you are made of poison, so that makes sense. *NM* - 02/12/2010 07:39:09 PM 352 Views
Curse you, poetic justice! Curse you! - 04/12/2010 03:38:37 AM 726 Views
So, is it an alien? - 02/12/2010 07:19:49 PM 701 Views
I don't see why it couldn't be natural - 02/12/2010 07:22:49 PM 600 Views
They haven't mentioned anything saying it's not from Earth, I think - 02/12/2010 08:03:44 PM 708 Views
It was funded by NASA, I think - 02/12/2010 08:15:15 PM 742 Views
lols. *NM* - 02/12/2010 08:17:40 PM 364 Views
The bacteria in question is part of a known lineage - 02/12/2010 08:07:34 PM 914 Views
see my note below - 02/12/2010 08:13:35 PM 711 Views
Maybe - 02/12/2010 08:23:16 PM 639 Views
it could be there are some in the lake naturally - 02/12/2010 09:00:42 PM 603 Views
Huh! I must have missed that part. *NM* - 02/12/2010 09:05:15 PM 340 Views
No it isn't! - 02/12/2010 07:39:34 PM 691 Views
I really didn't understand that, either. - 04/12/2010 10:44:51 AM 727 Views
So, apparently, this bacteria doesn't use arsneic for its DNA in its natural state? - 02/12/2010 08:06:02 PM 589 Views
While awesome, it's a bit of a problem. - 02/12/2010 09:04:22 PM 609 Views
Re: While awesome, it's a bit of a problem. - 02/12/2010 10:34:34 PM 553 Views
It's interesting, but not completely shocking - 02/12/2010 08:08:46 PM 769 Views
I don't understand why this is such a big deal. It always seemed common sense to me that there are - 02/12/2010 10:40:22 PM 745 Views
It's much more than an educated guess. - 02/12/2010 11:59:18 PM 779 Views
You can't "know" from this distance. - 03/12/2010 03:13:05 AM 582 Views
Why not? - 03/12/2010 04:42:15 AM 768 Views
obviously you have not learned to look at the back label on the car *NM* - 04/12/2010 07:04:42 PM 337 Views
Yes, we can. - 04/12/2010 06:04:48 PM 937 Views
The problem probably is with me. - 04/12/2010 08:00:56 PM 601 Views
No, they aren't. - 04/12/2010 10:01:25 PM 612 Views
Depends on how you view evidence, no? - 05/12/2010 04:50:11 AM 842 Views
There are correct and incorrect ways to view evidence. - 05/12/2010 05:42:41 AM 561 Views
Are you baiting me to bait you? - 05/12/2010 06:41:49 AM 773 Views
I'm just carrying on a conversation. - 05/12/2010 07:26:39 AM 772 Views
Re: I'm just carrying on a conversation. - 05/12/2010 07:08:04 PM 551 Views
Re: I'm just carrying on a conversation. - 05/12/2010 07:56:43 PM 763 Views
Re: I'm just carrying on a conversation. - 06/12/2010 03:15:37 AM 703 Views
Re: I'm just carrying on a conversation. - 06/12/2010 09:18:51 PM 654 Views
Okay. - 06/12/2010 11:22:44 PM 801 Views
I watched that and was very intrigued - 03/12/2010 01:31:29 AM 490 Views
It's neat, but I object to the circus act - 03/12/2010 02:52:46 AM 735 Views
yah, and it's kind of shooting themselves in the foot anyways - 03/12/2010 09:10:21 AM 596 Views
xkcd - 03/12/2010 10:35:24 AM 761 Views

Reply to Message