FARK.com: (5797275) Yes, the NASA news is about bacteria that live off arsenic. But for once, here's the actual science and why this is so cool

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		Yes, the NASA news is about bacteria that live off arsenic. But for once, here's the actual science and why this is so cool (blogs.discovermagazine.com)		156
		More: Followup, RNA, Thank You So Much, human hair, Jeff Goldblum, NASA, science education, ocean waters, Mono Lake

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Roadogs		2010-12-02 04:27:35 PM

TofuTheAlmighty		2010-12-02 04:35:00 PM

Dammit, they don't "live off" arsenic - they're still carbon-based. The coolness comes from the fact that these extremophiles can replace phosphate, one of the canonical essential elements, with arsenic.

Whiskey Priest		2010-12-02 04:35:29 PM

Big Al		2010-12-02 04:36:04 PM

Dammit Jim I'm a doctor not a biochemist.

amazing_live_seamonkeys		2010-12-02 04:36:04 PM

That 'article' actually made it harder to understand.

dabbletech		2010-12-02 04:36:20 PM

Bacteria living off your arse? It's more likely than you think.

Arkalai		2010-12-02 04:36:34 PM

dumb question
what's the reason for some of it being struck out ?

A Fark Handle		2010-12-02 04:36:41 PM

that's really cool news...

phosphorus - one of six elements previously considered essential for life

mark12A		2010-12-02 04:37:11 PM

What threat does this present to my Old Lace Dress collection?

/nuke it, just to be sure...

Mr. Toadcheese		2010-12-02 04:37:12 PM

I, for one, wish to welcome &c. &c.

festoon		2010-12-02 04:37:52 PM

I, for one welcome our new Halomonadaceae overlords!

(And you people thought Bush was just being an asshole when he upped the amount of arsenic allowed in our water!)

gunner1000		2010-12-02 04:38:37 PM

It's life Jim, but not as we know it....

misanthropic1		2010-12-02 04:38:57 PM

Arkalai: dumb question
what's the reason for some of it being struck out ?

I was wondering the same thing.

rockradio1		2010-12-02 04:39:22 PM

Wow...and THIS explains why "Grays" beam peaple and animals up into their spacecraft and play "What's Up Your Ass" and then screw with their ability to remember?

Science.....is amazing.

A Fark Handle		2010-12-02 04:39:23 PM

amazing_live_seamonkeys: That 'article' actually made it harder to understand.

i think the NY times article does a better job giving a simple explanation (new window)

halB		2010-12-02 04:39:58 PM

After watching that press conference I know one thing. Scientists need spokesmen.

DrunkenBob		2010-12-02 04:40:18 PM

This is about the studies into the shadow biome isn't it? Nice to hear they're making progress. Even better to hear this is NASA's announcement as opposed to some junk about space, although hearing the orbiting debris has closed off space to us and their estimates about how long satellites can dodge destruction would have been as equally interesting.

amazing_live_seamonkeys		2010-12-02 04:40:30 PM

A Fark Handle: that's really cool news...

phosphorus - one of six elements previously considered essential for life

They still need oxygen, made by plants that require phosphorus.

StrikitRich		2010-12-02 04:41:26 PM

Seems pretty obvious the California desert would be the first place to look for aliens, after Arizona of course.

gulogulo		2010-12-02 04:41:28 PM

TofuTheAlmighty: Dammit, they don't "live off" arsenic - they're still carbon-based. The coolness comes from the fact that these extremophiles can replace phosphate, one of the canonical essential elements, with arsenic.

Phosphorous. Phosphate is the compound with some O's attached.

Pseudacris		2010-12-02 04:41:44 PM

Back in my undergrad days I did some work with a fern that hyperaccumulates arsenic (i.e. collects the stuff actively from contaminated soil). If I remember right some work had shown that the fern actually grew better with some arsenic in the soil than without it. So yeah, I'm not surprised a bacteria has managed to more completely switch out phosphorus for arsenic, but this is still freakin' cool and I can see why NASA is excited.

/Cool story prof.
//Pteris vittata btw

Fuggin Bizzy		2010-12-02 04:41:58 PM

Why was this greenlit? This isn't news.

Oh wait...it is. Never mind. Sorry about the knee-jerk reaction. I'm working on it, swear to God.

Big Brother		2010-12-02 04:42:00 PM

misanthropic1: Arkalai: dumb question
what's the reason for some of it being struck out ?

I was wondering the same thing.

FTFA: [Update (13:30 MT Dec. 2): I misunderstood a part of this research dealing with arsenic when I read the journal paper, which was made more clear during the press conference. I have corrected the relevant text below, and struck through the old text. Hope this doesn't confuse anyone, and sorry about that!]

it was directly between TFHL and TFA

Bonkthat_Again		2010-12-02 04:42:22 PM

As Whiskey Priest already alluded to....Didn't Ira Kane already point this out?

A Fark Handle		2010-12-02 04:44:38 PM

amazing_live_seamonkeys: A Fark Handle: that's really cool news...

phosphorus - one of six elements previously considered essential for life

They still need oxygen, made by plants that require phosphorus.

maybe the plants do, maybe the plant's don't...that's the whole point.

BioCritter		2010-12-02 04:44:40 PM

hjy6		2010-12-02 04:45:33 PM

It takes the arsenic and and and and what?
um uses the arsenic and transforms into more arsenic?

oh wait um

"We know that some microbes can breathe arsenic, but what we've found is a microbe doing something new -- building parts of itself out of arsenic," said Felisa Wolfe-Simon, a NASA Astrobiology Research Fellow in residence at the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, Calif., and the research team's lead scientist. "If something here on Earth can do something so unexpected, what else can life do that we haven't seen yet?"

This one is better (new window)

Whiskey Priest		2010-12-02 04:46:05 PM

Bonkthat_Again: As Whiskey Priest already alluded to....Didn't Ira Kane already point this out?

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the folks at NASA were the only ones still under the impression that all life had to be constructed the same way as it ~~always~~ traditionally is on Earth.

greentea1985		2010-12-02 04:46:13 PM

It is quite cool. The scientists have managed to replace one of the elements considered essential for life with another closely related element. It completely alters the search for life. It opens up the possibilty not just of organisms using arsenate instead of phosphate, but silicon based life forms or organisms that use sulphur instead of oxygen. It completely alters the search for extra-terrestrial life by overturning the assumption that the required chemical components are the same as the ones used by most organisms on earth

Bennie Crabtree		2010-12-02 04:46:33 PM

Once again, Fred Hoyle for the win, mofos. It's like he explained in the 1970s everything cosmological we would be discovering in the 21st century.

Tommathy		2010-12-02 04:46:54 PM

What I'm curious about is just how much phosphate can these organisms replace with phosphate. They've confirmed the replacement of phosphate for arsenic in the nucleotides, but how about the energy transport molecules?

adenosine triarsenate anyone?

Vorpal		2010-12-02 04:47:49 PM

WE DISCOVERED LIFE

_{also the space shuttle launch is delayed again}

dcigary		2010-12-02 04:48:14 PM

I wanted them to say - "Well, we were looking through our probe logs, and we found this picture..." as the guy holds up a shot of just three eyes looking into the lander's camera.... But noooooooooooooooo........ Just some microbes here on earth that don't behave like we assumed everything behaved and ...oh... crap... this means that our definition of "life" is all wrong! Honestly, I already took the assumption that life out there probably DIDN'T resemble anything that we consider life on earth, and I guess it was a bad assumption of mine to think that the scientists felt the same way too, but apparently not! Do these guys not watch the ultimate predictor of all things sci-fi releated - Star Trek? I guess they were all too busy getting their Doctorates to watch any TV... :-)

ultraholland		2010-12-02 04:51:07 PM

Life is a peculiar and resilient thing. Throughout the universe exist conditions which we consider extreme and inhospitable, whereas other lifeforms consider them quite comfy. The conditions which harbor extremophiles on earth may be analogs for life-friendly conditions across the cosmos. My money is on "life" being just another component of the physical universe. Suck it, religions.

vodka		2010-12-02 04:53:02 PM

Very very interesting but not really in the same realm as the hype built up (ah, NASA, when will you learn).

Wake me when they have a life-form that isn't carbon based. These little guys are just adaptations to existing well known critters. I mean I realize they do something incredible but it's pretty easy to see the remote possibly of how this can work.

Donnchadha		2010-12-02 04:53:08 PM

Vorpal: WE DISCOVERED LIFE on earth

also the space shuttle launch is delayed again

FTFY

StBC		2010-12-02 04:53:40 PM

Bennie Crabtree: Once again, Fred Hoyle for the win, mofos. It's like he explained in the 1970s everything cosmological we would be discovering in the 21st century.

Didn't he write a book about card games?

blubberknife		2010-12-02 04:55:09 PM

Cool! This is where they filmed High Plains Drifter.

www.vormedia.com

rickythepenguin		2010-12-02 04:55:27 PM

TofuTheAlmighty: Dammit, they don't "live off" arsenic - they're still carbon-based. The coolness comes from the fact that these extremophiles can replace phosphate, one of the canonical essential elements, with arsenic.

Oh yeah? Your FACE is a canonical essential element with arsenic OH DAMN SICK BURN IN THREAD 5797275

dericwater		2010-12-02 04:56:31 PM

Bennie Crabtree: Once again, Fred Hoyle for the win, mofos. It's like he explained in the 1970s everything cosmological we would be discovering in the 21st century.

What would a bridge player have anything useful to say about cosmology?

/I keed

Grobbley		2010-12-02 05:02:21 PM

greentea1985: It is quite cool. The scientists have managed to replace one of the elements considered essential for life with another closely related element.

Uh, scientists didn't do this, nature did.

hitlersbrain		2010-12-02 05:04:40 PM

I think there is a big difference between life on a very hospitable planet like earth evolving to fit into lots of niches and life being possible on a very inhospitable planet.

It seems like life needs a cozy place to get started.

ultraholland		2010-12-02 05:07:48 PM

hitlersbrain: I think there is a big difference between life on a very hospitable planet like earth evolving to fit into lots of niches and life being possible on a very inhospitable planet.

It seems like life needs a cozy place to get started.

What's cozy to some is hell for others. Life is not Goldilocks and it's home is not a lukewarm bowl of porridge.

hawcian		2010-12-02 05:08:39 PM

Grobbley: greentea1985: It is quite cool. The scientists have managed to replace one of the elements considered essential for life with another closely related element.

Uh, scientists didn't do this, nature did.

Scientists sort of coaxed nature into it.

ultraholland		2010-12-02 05:08:58 PM

*apostrophe misuse noted

Arkalai		2010-12-02 05:09:28 PM

Big Brother: TFHL
Now you made me look a fool

bonefish		2010-12-02 05:11:39 PM

Check out the comments at Fox News... Speaks volumes about their base. These people have to be trolling, right?

Ted Haggard's Poop-Stained Replicock		2010-12-02 05:13:56 PM

Tommathy: What I'm curious about is just how much phosphate can these organisms replace with phosphate. They've confirmed the replacement of phosphate for arsenic in the nucleotides, but how about the energy transport molecules?adenosine triarsenate anyone?

Um... let me just check on that for you.... brb

(drinks whiskey)