Main Idea:
Scientists from the Bay Area have discovered a new form of life that instead of containing phosphorus, an element once thought to be essential for life, contains arsenic instead which is generally a poison. The discovery happened in Mono Lake, CA a prehistoric lakebed with notoriously harsh conditions for life to thrive in. Scientists found that the bacteria, strain GFAJ-1 of the Halomonadaceae family of Gammaproteobacteria, has replaced phosphorus in its DNA with arsenic which was previously thought impossible. Scientists were able to recreate the bacteria and grow them in colonies in a lab setting. This opens up a world of opportunity and possibility as to what it means to be a form of life and what conditions are needed to support life. Now there are a lot more stars with solar systems that are able to support life which is very exciting.
Conclusion:
The new bacteria strain that was discovered is no doubt a scientific breakthrough and a huge surprise to the entire world. What was once thought to have been absolute fact and necessary for life to exist has been proven wrong as the bacteria has been able to switch one element for another in its DNA. This has broadened the possibilities of there being extraterrestrial life vastly and shows us that there may be a whole other world of organisms right under our noses
It is always interesting to see how life can be beyond our assumptions and imaginations. By knowing that can take forms in ways we never knew before, we can re-define what and where life can be. This leads to more wonders of our universe for any extraterretrial life, and more questions toward the origin of life.
ReplyDeleteI really agree with the point you make about this opening up the door for extraterrestrial life. I hope that more scientific breakthroughs along these lines come in the near future because as many people know, rules are make to be broken. The thought that there is life out there other than on Earth is such an interesting topic that I hope we some day come across it.
ReplyDeleteI think it's really interesting how it took so long to discover that has been right there the whole time. I hope that this new discovery can help us better understand life in general.
ReplyDeleteNot to sound extreme, but I don't think it's possible for scientists to make valid generalizations such as phosphorous being essential to life. On the other hand, I think it's amazing that life can be found in arsenic. I hope that someday we may find life on other planets than Earth.
ReplyDeleteIt's rather interesting to know that. Do you know if they've concluded that the bacteria were originally like that? Or did they evolve over time (and the length of time)?
ReplyDeleteWow this is so interesting. Extra terrestrial life has now become even more possible than before. Hopefully, we can find more breakthroughs like this.
ReplyDeleteThis is an amazing find and this could change everything we know about how things live and survive. Wasn't there some problems involved with the experiment and NASA? I'm not sure if this was dismissed or not.
ReplyDeleteOnce again the possibility of life on other planets is increasing. Bacteria that can use what is essentially poison to survive could not only lead to extraterrestrial discoveries, but also to medical breakthroughs.
ReplyDeleteI find it amazing that we have discovered a type of life that has changed on of the fundamental notions of what makes life. We have always believed that phosphorus is essential so I'm amazed as a bio student that there could be something different. I can't wait to see what we discover from this research, and what else we can learn about life's diversity.
ReplyDeleteI think that its so great that scientists from the bay area have discovered such a ground breaking discovery that could further our knowledge on other human life forms!
ReplyDeleteThis is such an exciting and amazing find. Its so exciting to think that this happened in the bay area, were going to learn so many new things on how things live. Hopefully from this find we can go out and fin even more things about this.
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