NASA Disovers New Lifeform

[toranokaze]

Originally Posted by glatt

I don't have the biochemistry to completely understand this, but doesn't DNA stand for a big long word like dioxyribonucleic acid, or something like that? And isn't DNA made up of all these bases? The As and Cs and Ts and Gs? And isn't each "A" an actual specific chemical? (And so on.)

If we're switching chemicals here, so that the formula for each base pair is different, then how can they call it DNA? DNA has a specific chemical formula. wouldn't they have to make up a new name for it? Does the "DNA" in this bacteria have the same double helix shape?

What makes DNA is the sugar Deoxyribose. Now the nucleic acid (the A,T,G,C part) is attached to one end and the Phosphorus, or Arsenic in this case, is attached to the other.

So as long as Deoxyribose is there it is DNA helix or not.

[Undertoad]

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science...obe/56098788/1

Discovery of an arsenic-friendly microbe refuted

The discovery of an arsenic-loving microbe that NASA said would rewrite biology textbooks and offered hope of life on other planets now looks like a case study in how science corrects its mistakes, researchers report.
...
In the new studies, one headed by Julia Vorholt of Switzerland's ETH Zurich university and the other by Rosemary Redfield of Canada's University of British Columbia, researchers tested the bug, provided by Wolfe-Simon and colleagues, and both found that while it can survive amid high arsenic concentrations, it needs some low level of phosphorus to grow. Further, they found the bug did not incorporate arsenic into its genetic chemistry.

The "new research shows that GFAJ-1 does not break the long-held rules of life," says the editorial statement by Science. The bacteria, "is likely adept at scavenging phosphate under harsh conditions, which would help to explain why it can grow even when arsenic is present within the cells," it says.

[Aliantha]

I find that sort of 'new life' in my teenager's bedrooms all the time...

[richlevy]

I was thinking more of this movie.

Brigadier Gen. Russell Woodman: We'll seal off the tunnels, and then we burn the alien menace right the hell out of there.
Dr. Allison Reed: With what?
Brigadier Gen. Russell Woodman: With napalm. Lots and lots of napalm.
Ira Kane: Napalm? Why don't you just nuke 'em while you're at it?
Col. Flemming: What about nukes?
[Woodman starts thinking about it]
Governor Lewis: Pull your horns in there, boys! Nobody's dropping an H-bomb in the middle of my state!

[an alien bug is crawling inside Block's leg]
Dr. Allison Reed: What are you gonna do?
Dr. Paulson: We might have to amputate.
Harry Block: Whoa, Doc! Don't take the leg! Ira, don't let them take my leg.
Ira Kane: Isn't there anything else you can do? He thinks he's an athlete.
Nurse Tate: Doctor, look!
Dr. Paulson: It's headed for his testicles.
Harry Block: Take it! Take it! Take the leg!

[Sheldonrs]

Just think. Only 2 years ago they found a new life-form with an arsenic base and now he's the republican candidate for President.
Talk about progress!

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Boy, is your team in for a pounding.

[richlevy]

Originally Posted by Urbane Guerrilla

Boy, is your team in for a pounding.

Sheldon, I think UG just asked you out on a date.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by Urbane Guerrilla

Boy, is your team in for a pounding.

orly?

Next thing, you'll be challenging me to wager ten thousand dollars!

[infinite monkey]

Originally Posted by richlevy

Sheldon, I think UG just asked you out on a date.

In his socially awkward Mitt kind of way, I think he did!

[Sheldonrs]

In for a penny, in for a pounding. ;-)

[Lamplighter]

Old threads never die...

The Arizona Republic - 3/30/15

Twin fools NASA at brother's launch

Astronaut Scott Kelly's identical twin pulled a fast one on NASA
right before his brother blasted off on a one-year space station mission.



NASA Administrator Charles Bolden told Kelly on Monday that he almost had a heart attack
when his brother showed up launch morning without his usual mustache.
Bolden says that's the only way he could tell the two apart.
...
Scott Kelly arrived at the International Space Station late last week following a launch from Kazakhstan.
He will remain on board until next March, as will a Russian cosmonaut.
It will be NASA's longest spaceflight ever.
...