NASA to Make Big Announcement!

[chrisfpv]

Hi guys, was listening to the radio while at work today and they were talking about this:

NASA says it will make a big announcement to the public on Thursday, and many are wondering what it could be. We’re going with the alien theory!

NASA says it will make the announcement during a news conference scheduled for Dec. 2 at 2 p.m. Eastern Time. The only clue they will give us right now is that it is an “astrobiology discovery.”

A NASA press release claims that the NASA discussion will involve an “astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life. Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe.”

The news conference will be held at the NASA Headquarters in Washington and will be broadcast on NASA Television and on the agency’s website at www.nasa.gov.

Conference participants will include Mary Voytek, director of Astrobiology Program at NASA Headquarters, Felisa Wolfe-Simon a NASA astrobiology research fellow from U.S. Geological Survey, Pamela Conrad an astrobiologist from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Steven Benner a distinguished fellow from Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution and James Elser a professor from Arizona State University.

I'm extremely curious to see what will be said. Anyone else?

[GreenR]

Hmm interesting. I'm not sure just how big it can be though with a "finding that will impact the search".

As if to say they found something that is useful and may hint towards other lifeforms. But not much more. Not that it wouldn't be significant however

[Professor Farnsworth]

is it the 'alien ship' they claim is near Pluto at the moment?

[Professor Farnsworth]

if this broken embargo story is true, it's far less interesting that many suspected:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...e-planets.html

[Poidevin]

Originally Posted by Professor Farnsworth

is it the 'alien ship' they claim is near Pluto at the moment?

I haven't heard that, would you happen to have a link to a news article or similar?

[chrisfpv]

A couple of us were talking about it at work today. One of my mates suggested that NASA had spotted some Decepticons which gave me a good laugh.

[gtfpv]

interesting . i hope its something better than fossilised molecular possible residue from possible fecies of a possible microbe .

[Ohio XB]

Originally Posted by Professor Farnsworth

if this broken embargo story is true, it's far less interesting that many suspected:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...e-planets.html

I believe it will be along these lines. I saw a quick thing on TV where they showed what looked like a cell dividing and they said something about it being alien.

Remember, they are looking for microscopic forms of life.


Steve

[MAGPIE]

They are going to come clean about the moon landings

[fmc351]

Originally Posted by Professor Farnsworth

is it the 'alien ship' they claim is near Pluto at the moment?

I heard it was Klingons around Uranus

[ELGT4me]

Originally Posted by fmc351

I heard it was Klingons around Uranus

Yep, I'll pay that one.

[3vXT]

They probably want more money.

[Iggypoppin']

I am hazarding a guess towards frozen water containing molecules on a large asteroid or something like that. Will follow this, I have an interest in this sort of thing.

[sandmanls1]

all Collingwood supporters are Aliens in disguise.

I think you will find it relates to a discovery in a lake in California where bacteria have been found to survive in arsenic rather than phosporous which was thought to be essential for life.

[Professor Farnsworth]

Originally Posted by sandmanls1

all Collingwood supporters are Aliens in disguise.

I think you will find it relates to a discovery in a lake in California where bacteria have been found to survive in arsenic rather than phosporous which was thought to be essential for life.

please refer to post #4

Originally Posted by Poidevin

I haven't heard that, would you happen to have a link to a news article or similar?

no i don't sorry

[gtfpv]

Originally Posted by gtfpv

interesting . i hope its something better than fossilised molecular possible residue from possible fecies of a possible microbe .

well i was hoping, but i was right.

[rodderz]

Maybe they found a cleveland steamer left by ET on mars

[fmc351]

Originally Posted by rodderz

Maybe they found a cleveland steamer left by ET on mars

If Mars isnt a person, there can be no steamer.



Or so Ive heard

[rodderz]

Originally Posted by fmc351

If Mars isnt a person, there can be no steamer.



Or so Ive heard

Perhaps there was Mrs ET there

Which may turn into a Boston Pancake

[uranium_death]

Originally Posted by Professor Farnsworth

is it the 'alien ship' they claim is near Pluto at the moment?

Star Control II taught me that 18 years ago.

[Streets]

Originally Posted by XR

One of my mates suggested that NASA had spotted some Decepticons which gave me a good laugh.

I reckon he's onto something. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrotrain

[burnz]

seti@home deciphered a signal and it was backed up by milkyway@home (stellar cartography)
so the real story is they don't want to scrap the hubble, they need it.

[WOTDAH]

We will be fed a whole lot of BS as usual. NASA will never come clean about what they REALLY know. It's all in the name, NASA (Never A Straight Answer)

[galaxy xr8]

So that's where Osama Bin Laden has been hidding, no wonder they couldn't find him, they were looking in the wrong spot,

[Jason[98.EL]]

Taken from www.nasa.gov

NASA-Funded Research Discovers Life Built With Toxic Chemical12.02.10 Image of Mono Lake Research area
Click photo for larger image.

Felisa Wolfe-Simon processing mud from Mono Lake to inoculate media to grow microbes on arsenic.
Click photo for larger image.

Image of GFAJ-1 grown on arsenic.
Click photo for larger image.

Image of GFAJ-1 grown on phosphorus.
Click photo for larger image.

NASA-funded astrobiology research has changed the fundamental knowledge about what comprises all known life on Earth.

Researchers conducting tests in the harsh environment of Mono Lake in California have discovered the first known microorganism on Earth able to thrive and reproduce using the toxic chemical arsenic. The microorganism substitutes arsenic for phosphorus in its cell components.

"The definition of life has just expanded," said Ed Weiler, NASA's associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at the agency's Headquarters in Washington. "As we pursue our efforts to seek signs of life in the solar system, we have to think more broadly, more diversely and consider life as we do not know it."

This finding of an alternative biochemistry makeup will alter biology textbooks and expand the scope of the search for life beyond Earth. The research is published in this week's edition of Science Express.

Carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur are the six basic building blocks of all known forms of life on Earth. Phosphorus is part of the chemical backbone of DNA and RNA, the structures that carry genetic instructions for life, and is considered an essential element for all living cells.

Phosphorus is a central component of the energy-carrying molecule in all cells (adenosine triphosphate) and also the phospholipids that form all cell membranes. Arsenic, which is chemically similar to phosphorus, is poisonous for most life on Earth. Arsenic disrupts metabolic pathways because chemically it behaves similarly to phosphate.

"We know that some microbes can breathe arsenic, but what we've found is a microbe doing something new -- building parts of itself out of arsenic," said Felisa Wolfe-Simon, a NASA Astrobiology Research Fellow in residence at the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, Calif., and the research team's lead scientist. "If something here on Earth can do something so unexpected, what else can life do that we haven't seen yet?"

The newly discovered microbe, strain GFAJ-1, is a member of a common group of bacteria, the Gammaproteobacteria. In the laboratory, the researchers successfully grew microbes from the lake on a diet that was very lean on phosphorus, but included generous helpings of arsenic. When researchers removed the phosphorus and replaced it with arsenic the microbes continued to grow. Subsequent analyses indicated that the arsenic was being used to produce the building blocks of new GFAJ-1 cells.

The key issue the researchers investigated was when the microbe was grown on arsenic did the arsenic actually became incorporated into the organisms' vital biochemical machinery, such as DNA, proteins and the cell membranes. A variety of sophisticated laboratory techniques was used to determine where the arsenic was incorporated.

The team chose to explore Mono Lake because of its unusual chemistry, especially its high salinity, high alkalinity, and high levels of arsenic. This chemistry is in part a result of Mono Lake's isolation from its sources of fresh water for 50 years.

The results of this study will inform ongoing research in many areas, including the study of Earth's evolution, organic chemistry, biogeochemical cycles, disease mitigation and Earth system research. These findings also will open up new frontiers in microbiology and other areas of research.

"The idea of alternative biochemistries for life is common in science fiction," said Carl Pilcher, director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute at the agency's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "Until now a life form using arsenic as a building block was only theoretical, but now we know such life exists in Mono Lake."

The research team included scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz., Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif., Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Penn., and the Stanford Synchroton Radiation Lightsource in Menlo Park, Calif.

NASA's Astrobiology Program in Washington contributed funding for the research through its Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology program and the NASA Astrobiology Institute. NASA's Astrobiology Program supports research into the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life on Earth.

taken from http://www.pcworld.com/article/21227..._bacteria.html from a link at news for nasa


Life As We Don't Know It: NASA Finds Arsenic-Eating Bacteria

We knew that NASA's news conference today about implications for finding extraterrestrial life would be big, but at least some of us hoped it’d have to do with life on other planets. Instead, NASA announced that a team of astrobiologists have found a type of microorganism in Mono Lake, California, USA, Earth that can use the usually poisonous element arsenic to reproduce and grow. Indeed, this little bacteria build parts of itself by replacing phosphorus with arsenic in its cells and DNA.

Up until now, scientists had only theorized that life with an alternative biochemistry could exist: That is, life that uses elements beyond hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorous, and sulfur to reproduce and live. This arsenic-eating bacteria, called GFAJ-1, expands our definition of what life can thrive off of, and encourages scientists to look for life that can use other elements beyond our favorite six. Expect that new editions of biology textbooks will reflect this change, and that the search for life here on Earth--and on other planets--will expand to look for life with other alternative biochemistries.

If you’re going out to Mono Lake in hopes of grabbing some GFAJ-1 to cook up for dinner, be warned: Arsenic is used as a pesticide, and is rather toxic. Stick to serving things in from the Animalia, Plantae, or Fungi taxonomic kingdoms and avoid bacteria that can build itself from toxic elements and you should be set.