Arsenic.

Z

Zenith

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Member
We have discovered a life-form that uses arsenic instead of phosphorus at Lake Mono, California. This is just a bit more important than who is hosting the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, thanks guys for restoring my faith in this forum by making the topic already.

Anyway! This, obviously, expands the definition of life. Which means...well, you guys can figure it out. Help bring my faith in you guys back! C'mon Card Slinger J and Pokequaza, you guys are almost intelligent.
 
Incredible. The fact that arsenic can be a building block of life is quite a discovery.
With the rate the human race is going as far as scientific discoveries goes, I find it completely plausible to believe that we will find intelligent life on other planets or even how to create life (besides with pre-existant genetic material) in the very near future.
 
I saw this on the news lest night. Wasn't there something also about like, bacterium being able to live on an acid that destroys all other elements? (Not permanently destroy, but you get what I mean)
 
It's a nice discovery, but I'm not surprised though. Arsenic, as a metalloid therefor not a metal, has a lot in common with phosphorus, the same covalent bond for example, which is important in this case. What will a organism do when living in an arsenic rich environment that lacks of phosphorus, of course, swap the two. This again shows the diversity of life, does it expand the definition of life? No, certainly not. I do not have much more to add, do I?
 
I'm so glad someone made a thread for this.
It's truly fascinating, this discovery.
I find it implausible to think that we Earthlings exist in this vast, expanding universe alone, you know?
 
I saw this on Yahoo last night, it's really interesting. We're another step closer to finding alien life.
 
Interesting stuff. BTW it's Mono Lake (I live by there.) The fact that I think that really sets this apart from most like is that arsenic is dangerous to most lifeforms but important to this one. Anyways, most life has trace arsenic in them.

EDIT: Arsenic is chemicly similar to phosphorus.
 
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