Article
I dunno about you, but I'm intrigued. :popcorn:
Article
I dunno about you, but I'm intrigued. :popcorn:
Definitive proof that no god exists.
Just close down R/S. It's over.
Nice! :>
It's like I've been saying all along: Limiting the search to Earth-like conditions (though probably the most logical way to go about it) was prolonging the process. Hehe.
Maybe it's a way to create space monkeys that shoot lazer beams out of there eyes that would be SWEET!
That last bit has me intrested.
You know what would be awesome? use the lense we have today for looking into space, then use a small thing with the same lense and we can see even further, use the same lense again, see even further, etc. Of course it wont work or it would have been done before, and i'm sure the things they throw out there are much better.Quote:
And that's without counting yesterday's announcement on the discovery of a massive number of red dwarf stars, which may harbor a trillion Earths, dramatically increasing our chances of finding extraterrestrial life. [NOS—In Dutch]
If true, this is absolutely huge.
The relevance is that we previously had no idea how probable abiogenesis was. It could have been the case that DNA (and RNA) is the only possible spontaneously forming replicating information carrier, and if this were the case then there were absolutely no limits to how improbable life was, as it would mean that a very specific set of circumstances have to conspire together to make a life-sustaining planet.
However, if there are other potential life molecules with relatively different chemistries on this planet, that vastly increases the probability that life is a common occurrence. Further research would have to be done on its genealogy though, because it could be the case that DNA needs to precede it... but even if this were the case, the fact such a different chemistry can exist is very promising. Life could even be elsewhere in our solar system; this discovery could finally give impetus to the proposed missions for checking out if the various potential bodies in the universe have life on them. I think any country would be keen to be the one to do such a monumental thing.
This really doesn't 'disprove God' though. Such statements just sound arrogant and are also very philosophically naive.
Someone post a recap of what is said. I wont get anything they say, i don't understand science that great.
edit- Please stop talking about god, this is about science, not religion ffs.
Basically, they have found a microbe in California that has the ability to substitute a crucial, basic element required for life, with another element on the periodic table. All life as we know it is based on 6 basic elements, one of those being Phosphorus. This microbe is able to substitute that element by using Arsenic, which is an element that is extremely toxic to all life that has been known to science. This implies that the types of conditions that life can grow within are vastly more numerous than science has previously taught. It opens the door to the possibility that there may even be life within our solar system.
'Taught' or 'thought'? :)
Although, really, it didn't do either. The stance has always been 'we don't know'.
As fascinating as this discovery is, I was hoping for something a little more...extraterrestrial. Someday...
I bet this raises a thousand questions for biologists everywhere. How does it substitute arsenic in place of phosphorous? What's the actual mechanism that determines what elements to use for constructing it's DNA and other vital molecules?
This is possible due to the fact that arsenate is very similar to phosphate. The mechanism that determines whether something can or can't be used for building biomolecules depends on its size and structure - whether something fits into the active site of an enzyme or not. Most of our enzymes can't tell the difference between the arsenate and phosphate, and that's exactly why arsenic is toxic to most known species.
The problem is that arsenate containing biomolecules are in general unstable compared to phosphate molecules. This bacteria has the ability to stabilize arsenate compounds by producing a polymer that slows down their hydrolysis.
The details are, of course, unknown.
Phosphate and arsenate are just very similar in structure. Phosphate is better, but since that lake was incredibly high in arsenate and low in phosphate, the probability of an arsenate based organism arrising was simply higher. Back when the Earth was young, there were organisms that used something else than oxygen. I think is was a sulfur compound, but I'm not entirely sure.
sigh...
Someone's gotta post it.
Title: Arsenic Based Life
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/arsenic_based_life.png
Title Text: According to a new paper published in the journal Science, reporters are unable to thrive in an arsenic-rich environment.
^ Ok, that is freakin' hilarious. :chuckle: