Aliens?? [NASA Discovery Announcement] (2 Viewers)

Cannot argue with the coolness factor...

I know they had been theorizing about the possibilities of life in the poisonous lake and I think this proves the at life will always find a way to survive. If you are a firm believer of evolution (and how can you not, especially now), this discovery shouldn't be earth-shattering.

exactly.
 
Cannot argue with the coolness factor...

I know they had been theorizing about the possibilities of life in the poisonous lake and I think this proves the at life will always find a way to survive. If you are a firm believer of evolution (and how can you not, especially now), this discovery shouldn't be earth-shattering.

What's being suggested is beyond the "found a way to metabolize arsenic". Those bacteria were found and published on in 2008. What's being rumored is that what they've found something that has chemically different DNA than what we've seen before.

So this lifeform developed INDEPENDENT of the evolutionary process we're familiar with.

If that's what they announce (still rumor), then that would mean that life evolved twice on Earth, separately.
 
EDIT: evnjnsn beat me to it on the link.

I would argue that this is just as exciting as extraterrestrial life.

Jonesy, you know what I meant. The evolutionary trees would have to trace back to two separate ancestors, and that's something we've never seen here on Earth.

As I've said in several threads, God is not a question for science. They are two distinct subjects, and there's no reason to bring God into this thread.

It doesn't matter who created anything. This is new life as compared to everything on Earth. How can anyone not be intrigued by that?

EDIT: IF the Gizmodo report is true. If it's not, then everything in my last two posts is moot. Still rumor til 2 pm.

I agree about keeping god our of this thread. Let this remain a discussion relating to the underlying scientific discovery that should be announced today. God or no god, the science behind this stuff will not change. I for one am very excited to hear about it.

The "arsenic might very well be the photosynthesis of life" theories floating around has me extremely intrigued. If that ends up being proven, and if there really is arsenic on Titan, the entire scientific community will be so shaken up in ways I cannot imagine. As someone already pointed out in here, what will this mean to the almost universally accepted primortal soup theories? Was arsenic the catalyst for it all, or has the "soup" even existed?

Also, wired.com has a few really good articles out all of this, I am on my phone right now so posting links would be too cumbersome.

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What's being suggested is beyond the "found a way to metabolize arsenic". Those bacteria were found and published on in 2008. What's being rumored is that what they've found something that has chemically different DNA than what we've seen before.

So this lifeform developed INDEPENDENT of the evolutionary process we're familiar with.

If that's what they announce (still rumor), then that would mean that life evolved twice on Earth, separately.

This is potentially some crazy, earth shattering news. I can't wait to hear about it.

On another note, if the news is as profound as you've mentioned, Morgan Freeman needs to call a few doctors and keep them on stand by. Poor fellow might have a stroke if he hears news like that. He will already be running new ideas for his "wormhole" series through his head at light speed!

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from geekosystem.com....

NASA Watch’s Keith Cowing writes that “[r]eliable sources within the Astrobiology community tell me that the announcement does indeed concern Arsenic-based biochemistry and the implications for the origin of life on Earth, how it may have happened more than once on our planet, and the implications for life arising elsewhere in the universe.”
 
What's being suggested is beyond the "found a way to metabolize arsenic". Those bacteria were found and published on in 2008. What's being rumored is that what they've found something that has chemically different DNA than what we've seen before.

So this lifeform developed INDEPENDENT of the evolutionary process we're familiar with.

If that's what they announce (still rumor), then that would mean that life evolved twice on Earth, separately.

What I just read does indeed say this.

"You may recall from your high school biology class that ATP, or adenosine triphosphate, is the so-called “energy currency” of the cell, and powers many key metabolic functions; key to ATP’s structure is the element phosphorus. Arsenic sits directly below phosphorus on the periodic table of elements and can do many of the same things chemically, but it’s usually poisonous to living things. Arsenic-powered organisms, then, would indeed represent different forms of life from those which we’re most familiar, both because they’d have ATP-like molecules with arsenic swapped in in phosphorus’ place and because they had evolved mechanisms such that arsenic didn’t kill them."


This would be a very profound discovery imo.
 
from geekosystem.com....

NASA Watch’s Keith Cowing writes that “[r]eliable sources within the Astrobiology community tell me that the announcement does indeed concern Arsenic-based biochemistry and the implications for the origin of life on Earth, how it may have happened more than once on our planet, and the implications for life arising elsewhere in the universe.”

Wow, something tells me that I will get no work done today

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What's being suggested is beyond the "found a way to metabolize arsenic". Those bacteria were found and published on in 2008. What's being rumored is that what they've found something that has chemically different DNA than what we've seen before.

So this lifeform developed INDEPENDENT of the evolutionary process we're familiar with.

If that's what they announce (still rumor), then that would mean that life evolved twice on Earth, separately.

Why does arsenic replacing phosphorous in a cell imply independent evolutionary processes? Chemically, they are fairly similar atoms - they ionize the same way. Why wouldn't a mutation that allowed phosphorous to replace aresenic (or vice versa) be potentially part of the evolutionary process?

(though I agree that this is a monumental discovery, if that's the case).
 
Why does Arsenic replacing Phosphorous in a cell imply independent evolutionary processes? Chemically, they are fairly similar atoms - they ionize the same way. Why wouldn't a mutation that allowed Phosphorous to replace Aresenic (or vice versa) be potentially part of the evolutionary process?

(though I agree that this is a monumental discovery, if that's the case).

Possibly...which is why I think most are talking in terms of "different" versus "independent".

which will, at the very least, support the views of evolution. Lots of questions...lots of possibilites here and in the universe.

But even larger now is that planetary bodies, regardless of soild, liquid or gas, could harbor life in a form we were just not programmed to look for.
 
Why does Arsenic replacing Phosphorous in a cell imply independent evolutionary processes? Chemically, they are fairly similar atoms - they ionize the same way. Why wouldn't a mutation that allowed Phosphorous to replace Aresenic (or vice versa) be potentially part of the evolutionary process?

(though I agree that this is a monumental discovery, if that's the case).

I'm a little over my head here, but what I'm reading is implying that the DNA itself is chemically different. Mutations are contained within the DNA, I don't think evolutionary processes allow the structure of the DNA itself to mutate.

Again, I might have that completely wrong.

What that would seem to suggest is that the idea of life itself being a crazy accident, that may only happen once in the universe it's so unlikely, would be debunked. It happening twice on ONE PLANET would definitley make it more likely to happen in many, many other places.

For a third time, I'm not a biologist, so maybe one will show up in this thread and clear it up. :hihi:
 
If a mod is reading this...

It seems nitpicky, but maybe a title edit is in order since it's pretty clear at this point no aliens have been found. :)

So you are saying that The Man in the Sky has not been found?

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I'm a little over my head here, but what I'm reading is implying that the DNA itself is chemically different. Mutations are contained within the DNA, I don't think evolutionary processes allow the structure of the DNA itself to mutate.

Again, I might have that completely wrong.

What that would seem to suggest is that the idea of life itself being a crazy accident, that may only happen once in the universe it's so unlikely, would be debunked. It happening twice on ONE PLANET would definitley make it more likely to happen in many, many other places.

For a third time, I'm not a biologist, so maybe one will show up in this thread and clear it up. :hihi:

I've barely looked at this, but my assumption was that if the cells are "metabolizing" arsenic, it is replacing phosphorous in the ATP -> ADP cycle in the mitochondria, rather than in the DNA. I'm probably jumping to conclusions.

Are we supposed to capitalize the names of elements?
 
I've barely looked at this, but my assumption was that if the cells are "metabolizing" Arsenic, it is replacing Phosphorous in the ATP -> ADP cycle in the mitochondria, rather than in the DNA. I'm probably jumping to conclusions.

You might have it right. And if the entire structure is the same except arsenic, then maybe so. If it was a totally different evolution, and the DNA was that similar, what would that tell us? Maybe we're all jumping to conclusions :shrug:

Are we supposed to capitalize the names of elements?

Had to google that but no. Only when using symbols. So, arsenic and As.
 

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