I'm not going to rewrite the entire press release here or speculate too far since I haven't actually read and digested the official Science paper, but I've been told 'a respectable blogger would follow up on the previous entry'. Not sure if that was advice or an insult since I write so rarely, but oh well, I'll follow up.
Brief summary: Dr Felisa Wolfe Simon and her research team have found some bacteria in Mono Lake in California that can process arsenic. Arsenic is toxic to most life because it interferes with phosphorus, an essential building block of life. Both elements, which are in the same column on the periodic table, behave in a chemically similar fashion. Some extreme organisms have been found before that can survive with arsenic present, but these bacteria actually incorporate it as part of their makeup. GFAJ-1 (Really we need a more creative name for this bacteria. I heard a couple people suggest Old Lace or some such variant.) actually replaces phosphorus with arsenic in its biochemistry. It is the only life form we know of that does this; it has a biochemistry different from every other life form we know about.
This has huge implications for many areas of study: biology, biochemistry, astrobiology... I'm not sure I could name them all. This basically says our definition of what life is and what life requires is incomplete and needs revising. The fact that this life has a biochemistry completely different than that of every other life form we know about is fascinating for those that follow astronomy and the search for life. Other worlds in our solar system, like Titan, are very different from Earth and finding life in places like this almost certainly would require a different biochemistry. If this discovery withstands the test of time, we now know life can have different biochemistries. It is no longer just science fiction, but science fact! Wow!!
Lots of brilliant people are writing about this so we can all read more about it. Check out the NASA press release or the official publication in Science (I myself have yet to get my hands on it.). One of my favorite blogs, Bad Astronomy has a nice write up. Not Just Rocket Science, also on Discovery Blogs, has a nice analysis on this discovery as well. I'm sure we'll be hearing lots more in the upcoming week.
Eyes to the skies! You'll be amazed by what you see!! AstroChick.
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