NASA astrobiology discovery conference 12/2

[Old Man]

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/nov/HQ_M10-167_Astrobiology.html

 

No details yet, but there is speculation elsewhere that this has to do with unusual chemistry found on Titan. Could be a hell of a nice Christmas present. Can we scrape up the cash for another (unmanned) mission there to confirm?

[Cancer]

Re: NASA astrobiology discovery conference 12/2

 

Carp. 2PM Eastern Thursday is two hours after my next (and next-to-last) class is over. Sigh.

[Old Man]

Re: NASA astrobiology discovery conference 12/2

 

So cancel class, dude, aren't you the prof? Or wheel a TV or laptop in there. Executive privilege and all.

[assault]

Re: NASA astrobiology discovery conference 12/2

 

"ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT TITAN. ATTEMPT NO LANDINGS THERE."

 

Or something like that.

[Sociotard]

Re: NASA astrobiology discovery conference 12/2

 

I heard one guy guess (wildly) that they had found evidence of an Arsenic based life form, either incorporating it into their version of DNA or, even more weirdly, ATP.

[Cancer]

Re: NASA astrobiology discovery conference 12/2

 

So cancel class' date=' dude, aren't you the prof? Or wheel a TV or laptop in there. Executive privilege and all.[/quote']

 

It'd be nice, but there's a structural problem. Tomorrow is the last day of classes this term. It is utterly impossible to get students to do ANYTHING out of the ordinary that isn't absolutely required the day before the last day of classes.

[Old Man]

Re: NASA astrobiology discovery conference 12/2

 

I seem to remember extraordinary consumption of alcoholic beverages starting around then...

[Lawnmower Boy]

Re: NASA astrobiology discovery conference 12/2

 

If you remember it, you were doing it wrong.

[Sociotard]

Re: NASA astrobiology discovery conference 12/2

 

aaaaaand the Arsenic crowd has it. There is still a lot of work to be done, but it looks as if a young scientist has found a bacterium that uses arsenic where it should use phosphorus. Yay, extremophiles!

 

From wikipedia

Arsenic, which is chemically similar to phosphorus, while poisonous for most Earth life, is incorporated into the biochemistry of some organisms. Some marine algae incorporate arsenic into complex organic molecules such as arsenosugars and arsenobetaines. Fungi and bacteria can produce volatile methylated arsenic compounds. Arsenate reduction and arsenite oxidation have been observed in microbes (Chrysiogenes arsenatis). Additionally, some prokaryotes can use arsenate as a terminal electron acceptor during anaerobic growth and some can utilize arsenite as an electron donor to generate energy. It has been speculated that the earliest life on Earth may have used arsenic in place of phosphorus in the backbone of its DNA. A new study released by NASA has revealed that a bacteria in Mono Lake, California may employ such 'arsenic DNA' when cultured without phosphorus.

[Cancer]

Re: NASA astrobiology discovery conference 12/2

 

Yet to be determined: exactly how As is being used instead of P. That would be very interesting.

 

Arsenic is down by a factor of 1200 to 1500 or so in abundance relative to phosphorous.

[Sociotard]

Re: NASA astrobiology discovery conference 12/2

 

The researchers also noted that even this extremophile did not prefer to use arsenic, merely resigned itself to do so when phosphorus was unavailable. Even then, it seemed to hold on to every last bit of phosphorus it could retain.