NASA to Hold News Conference on Astrobiology Discovery

[Dantrag]

I think even something like bacteria would be a pretty damn cool discovery.

[aduidarnenye]

This is really interesting. I wish I weren't working during this. I hope that I can sneak into the lunch room to find it on TV, if one of the cable news stations put it on.

[aurik]

nerds


Also I'm guessing it won't be a super exciting discovery. Sorry. If it was, it would have leaked in full. Still looking forward to it.

[Xno Kappa]

If the announcement isn't about little green men on Mars then NASA, as was said earlier, can . Why they receive so much funding is a mystery.

[BerenTebogo]

I think even something like bacteria would be a pretty damn cool discovery.

The CONFIRMED and verified discovery of even a single extraterrestrial microbe (as in: not fossils we think are of microbes but can't test for dna fragments) would change the world. It would arguably be the most significant finding in all of human history.

Shit like that doesn't get 'leaked' to gizmodo, nor is it able to be vaguely hidden behind a press release.

I'd love to be alive during the time that we first confirm extraterrestrial microbial organisms, but that day isn't today. I know I'm getting rabid about this but between this topic and facebook I'm livid over the importance of the actual discovery being overshadowed by trivial speculation.

[aurik]

It's no mystery: extremely long-view research is one place where the free market fails achieve a satisfactory result. Thus, it's a good thing to fund through government taxes.

[Callisto]

The CONFIRMED and verified discovery of even a single extraterrestrial microbe (as in: not fossils we think are of microbes but can't test for dna fragments) would change the world. It would arguably be the most significant finding in all of human history.

Shit like that doesn't get 'leaked' to gizmodo, nor is it able to be vaguely hidden behind a press release.

I'd love to be alive during the time that we first confirm extraterrestrial microbial organisms, but that day isn't today. I know I'm getting rabid about this but between this topic and facebook I'm livid over the importance of the actual discovery being overshadowed by trivial speculation.

It's all fun and games til they bring it here and someone catches the space flu.

[Effluo]

It's all fun and games til they bring it here and someone catches the space flu.

http://www.rrr.org.au/assets/andromeda-strain-logo.jpg

[Acturus]

I think even something like bacteria would be a pretty damn cool discovery.

Only if the bacteria accept Jesus Christ as their lord and savior.

[Dimmauk]

Only if the bacteria accept Jesus Christ as their lord and savior.

They better to it, cause God created them!

[Woozie]

http://www.smbc-comics.com/comics/20081124.gif

[BerenTebogo]

The other real scoop besides the atmospheric discovery:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/no...-about-aliens/

"The results do nothing of the sort. For a start, the bacteria – a strain known as GFAJ-1 – don’t depend on arsenic. They still contain detectable levels of phosphorus in their molecules and they actually grow better on phosphorus if given the chance. It’s just that they might be able to do without this typically essential element – an extreme and impressive ability in itself."

Real science, no hyperbole. You will all be disappointed, I promise. I find it interesting, however.

[JigglyJam]

It's apparently already been leaked what they will say, according to gizmodo. Bascially it's alien life, just not the interesting kind to most people.

Full Article: http://gizmodo.com/5704158/nasa-finds-new-life

Aren't these the exact same things in "Evolution" the movie? They like had to use head and shoulders to kill them off or something. CA-CAW CA-CAW




EDIT: Oh yeah is the massive planet that one that orbits its sun at the same rate it rotates so that one side always faces the sun?

[orson]

I think the main reason that there's a lot of excitement over even just finding microbial life is in regard to the study of the origin of life. Many microbiologists and other scientists hypothesise that if they can find life on other planets they may be able to get a better idea of the contributing factors to the origin of life. From what I've read and heard the good old theory of the primordial soup + eletrical storms isn't nearly as popular any more.

Granted finding new life won't necessarily provide any more information than we have now but potentially finding more life could at least give us a better idea whether there are common factors in the origin of life. Finding life forms, especially close by to Earth, would point to a higher probability of a mechanism found in nature that aids in the creation of life.

[Eggroll]

Weird, this morning in my biochem class we were looking at extremophile environments and one of them was Lake Mono. Bet my prof is having a field day right now.

[Outlaw]

Well this was not what I was expecting but still this is amazing. This definitely changes the search for life elsewhere. Arsenic, I mean damn.. I'm still trying to get my mind around it. According to what we know about life this should be impossible.

[zoobernut]

Holy crap people stop believing what you read on gizmodo. Just wait until the actual press conference to see what exactly is going to be announced. Gizmodo is not NASA and not a reliable source of information for something this important.

Also chances are the majority of you will be sorely disappointing just like Sath said when it turns out to be something very scientifically important but less sensational than you think.

[Necronus]

Holy crap people stop believing what you read on gizmodo. Just wait until the actual press conference to see what exactly is going to be announced. Gizmodo is not NASA and not a reliable source of information for something this important.

Also chances are the majority of you will be sorely disappointing just like Sath said when it turns out to be something very scientifically important but less sensational than you think.

You're a little late. The conference started 30 minutes ago and it is about Arsenic based lifeforms in Mono Lake, CA.

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/..._chemical.html

[Rhinox]

I think Obama will beat McCain

[Byrthnoth]

It's not actually that amazing. Look at the periodic table.
* Selenium is occasionally substituted for Sulfur in amino acids.
* Iirc, those thermophiles someone else referred to commonly use Sulfur where we'd expect Oxygen.
* They found arsenic can potentially be substituted for phosphorous.
Hurr de durr, things with similar properties can be substituted, within a certain tolerance.

Regardless of this finding, the fact remains that our choice of elements is by far the most probable, at least for our galaxy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abundance_of_the_elements