Nasa to hold conference on Alien Life. Part 3 - Details

So Nasa announcement happened. It wasn't what i and others expected.

A little over hyped I think though it is very interesting news. The hype seemed to be heading more towards definite proof rather than just a increase to one of the coefficients of the Drake equation.

Scientists have found a bacterium thriving in a heavily poisonous lake. This lake has a high concentration of arsenic, which would normally be deadly to bacteria. This clever little bacterium actually uses arsenic as a building block, it uses arsenic in several of its cell structures where normal life (me, you, that tree and that fish.) would use phosphorus. Most interestingly the bacterium uses the arsenic in its “DNA”.

The scientists have been asked weather this is evidence of life’s adaptability or of a 2nd genesis (not the Phil Collins Band.) Is this a bacterium that has adapted to a high arsenic low phosphorus environment by using arsenic instead in place of phosphorus, or is this bacterium part of a shadow Biosphere? I.e. is the bacterium a completely separate unrelated form of life that has grown alongside ours?

The scientist are reluctant to commit, as usual. All they say the finding means is that life can exist without one of the elements we previously thought essential for it. Which is pretty huge.

If life now needs Carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, (phosphorus or arsenic) and sulphur, what else can it swap-out. Carbon for silicon? Sulphur for Selenium? It means the chance of life existing and thriving elsewhere in the universe just got a hell of a lot more likely.

Nasa to hold conference on Alien Life. Part 2

Yesterday I blogged about NASA's press conference tomorrow. Having done some googling it seems likely that the announcement will be something to do with Saturns Moon Rhea.

The cassini probe has sent details that Rhea has an atmosphere and that atmosphere contains oxygen and carbon dioxide. This is very suggestive of the presence of Life. The actual content of the press conference is yet to be seen. Will it just be the above or has detailed analysis of the data proven life to exist their?

We'll just have to wait and see til tomorrow.

Nasa to hold conference on Alien Life.

Thursday 2nd December at 2pm EST. NASA will hold a News Conference on Astrobiology Discovery.

The details have been embargoed until Thursday. Very intriging. If they pull back a current and its ALF i'm going to wee myself.

ALF

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