NASA: New Life Form

[pzarquon]

When NASA first announced today's big press conference, speculation on the web ran wild, with many predicting they were going to say they'd finally found alien life.

Well, they sort of did find a new life form, but it's here on Earth, and it's not exactly alien. And it wasn't so much found as it was concocted.

NASA's Newly Discovered Arsenic-Loving Bacteria Are Fascinating, but Not Aliens

All life as we know it depends on six key ingredients — carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus. This bacteria can switch from phosphorus to arsenic — usually a deadly toxin — and use it for metabolism and growth. It can swap arsenic for phosphorus so completely that arsenic is incorporated into its DNA, according to the study unveiled today.

Still, expanding what qualifies as "life" at a fundamental level makes the probabilities of finding extra-terrestrial life even greater.

[Ron Whitfield]

Re: NASA: New Life Form

There is certainly intelligent life outside ours, especially with the newly mega-expanded star count. The fact that most usually stay away from us proves it...

[Kaonohi]

Re: NASA: New Life Form

There is certainly intelligent life outside ours, especially with the newly mega-expanded star count. The fact that most usually stay away from us proves it...

Hmmmm. I would venture a guess that you read Joe Haldeman's Marsbound....

I recommend it to those who have not.

[Ron Whitfield]

Re: NASA: New Life Form

Marsbound...

Never read it, but no doubt there are many of those who've failed the test just as we have.

[TATTRAT]

Re: NASA: New Life Form

There is certainly intelligent life outside ours, especially with the newly mega-expanded star count. The fact that most usually stay away from us proves it...

I get the feeling that we would kinda be like the intergalactic trailer park. For as much as we have advanced, and improved, we sure don't have NEAR the capabilities of others, who are able to visit here.

[Kalalau]

Re: NASA: New Life Form

A thing about the universe that knocks me out is that as far as we can see might not be as far as it goes. Light from beyond where we can see might not have gotten here yet. We are just opening the book, really. First paragraph, first chapter. Consider the enormous weirdness that the expansion of the universe INCREASES over time, totally unlike our experience here on Earth where things slow. There are no doubt countless other mysteries awaiting discovery. I wonder if we ever will beat the speed of light, and if so, how. It is possible our brains are just physically incapable of understanding the universe. I mean, a dog, no matter how smart it is, could never understand a high school chemistry book, the technical intricacies of the universe might be so intense that we could compare poorly with a dog's ability to understand molecular bonding. Life in the universe doesn't necessarily have to be based on carbon, any chemical reaction, or anything that produces consciousness, is all that matters. And what is awareness? Are plants aware? Some people think so. The best reason to live another 20,000 years would be to hopefully have some of this all explained.

[acousticlady]

Re: NASA: New Life Form

A thing about the universe that knocks me out is that as far as we can see might not be as far as it goes. Light from beyond where we can see might not have gotten here yet. We are just opening the book, really. First paragraph, first chapter. Consider the enormous weirdness that the expansion of the universe INCREASES over time, totally unlike our experience here on Earth where things slow. There are no doubt countless other mysteries awaiting discovery. I wonder if we ever will beat the speed of light, and if so, how. It is possible our brains are just physically incapable of understanding the universe. I mean, a dog, no matter how smart it is, could never understand a high school chemistry book, the technical intricacies of the universe might be so intense that we could compare poorly with a dog's ability to understand molecular bonding. Life in the universe doesn't necessarily have to be based on carbon, any chemical reaction, or anything that produces consciousness, is all that matters. And what is awareness? Are plants aware? Some people think so. The best reason to live another 20,000 years would be to hopefully have some of this all explained.

Or.... it's simplicity is such that a dog can understand it, but a human can't

I'm half joking here, but this is actually a big problem in getting students to understand physics. We are trained to think in the complex, when in reality, it is the simple approach that moves mountains - or gets us to the moon or ........

It doesn't 'knock me out' that we can't see the whole universe any more than it knocks me out that sitting in my living room might mean the living room is a small part of a whole house. I will not discount the idea of a whole house just because I can't see it all from my chair.

I must say though, I am just as awed by the universe and what might lie ahead as you are. Even the idea that the expansion of the universe might one day stop and even begin to collapse. And, absolutely I agree that we are only on page 1 in our understanding. Truth is, we really don't know anything.

[acousticlady]

Re: NASA: New Life Form

I love this stuff........

[Walkoff Balk]

Re: NASA: New Life Form

http://www.examiner.com/article/alie...s-boyd-bushman

They're living here. And some are posters on this board.

[GregLee]

Re: NASA: New Life Form

Light from beyond where we can see might not have gotten here yet.

Light from the most distant regions will never reach us, since space is expanding too fast.

[Walkoff Balk]

Re: NASA: New Life Form

http://www.msn.com/en-us/video/downt...war/vi-BBlTgnU

Praying to the aliens.

[Walkoff Balk]

People think they spotted a UFO submerged underwater on Google Earth (msn.com)

They're amphibious. They can throw with both arms.

[Walkoff Balk]

There may be 4 evil alien civilizations in the galaxy | Live Science

Run for your lives!

[Walkoff Balk]

Aliens Created Our Universe in a Lab, Scientist Suggests (yahoo.com)

Believe it or not.

[Ron Whitfield]

Repeating fast radio bursts from space are mysterious. This one is even weirder https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/11/world...scn/index.html
Stellar “Ghost” Discovered: Astronomers May Have Detected a “Dark” Free-Floating Black Hole https://scitechdaily.com/stellar-gho...ng-black-hole/