So at 2 PM today, NASA is supposed to announce some major finding related to Astrobiology. Pretty neat. Arsenic-based life, as I’ve gathered: http://gizmodo.com/5704158/nasa-finds-new-life
Should be interesting. It’s strangely humorous to see news-worthy events like this go under the immediate radar. Infotainment first; information … usually later. After DWTS.
Elsewhere in the above article, it mentions “the possibility of finding beings in other planets that don’t have to be like planet Earth” – no shit sherlock. I reckon we don’t have the cutting edge in technology either. It’s this oddly fundamentalist geocentrism that drives me crazy (no dig at the above quoted author, specifically). I just can’t stand listening to people argue against the idea of UFOs/ETVs/extraterrestrials with the logic of linear space travel. “Well – this is all we know about physics and technology, so it’s PROBABLY likely that other civilizations would face the same constraints with respect to space travel”.. but I digress…
I hope I can see this conference. We don’t have cable… just the limp old internet. Maybe there will be a live feed…
Fresh from the NASA online press release from November 29th:
NASA Sets News Conference on Astrobiology Discovery; Science Journal Has Embargoed Details Until 2 p.m. EST On Dec.
2 WASHINGTON — NASA will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. EST on Thursday, Dec. 2, to discuss an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life. Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe.
The news conference will be held at the NASA Headquarters auditorium at 300 E St. SW, in Washington. It will be broadcast live on NASA Television and streamed on the agency’s website at http://www.nasa.gov.
Participants are: -
- Mary Voytek, director, Astrobiology Program, NASA Headquarters, Washington
- Felisa Wolfe-Simon, NASA astrobiology research fellow, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, Calif.
- Pamela Conrad, astrobiologist, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
- Steven Benner, distinguished fellow, Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution, Gainesville, Fla.
- James Elser, professor, Arizona State University, Tempe
Media representatives may attend the conference or ask questions by phone or from participating NASA locations. To obtain dial-in information, journalists must send their name, affiliation and telephone number to Steve Cole at stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov or call 202-358-0918 by noon Dec. 2.
For NASA TV streaming video and downlink information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
For more information about NASA astrobiology activities, visit:
http://astrobiology.nasa.gov
Filed under: aliens, Technology, Uncategorized, 2pm, alien, announcement, arsenic, astrobiology, bacteria, based, extraterrestrial, gizmodo, life, lifeform, microbe, nasa, titan
The life is not arsenic based, and the article does not claim that. The life is carbon based and in some chemicals it is able to use arsenic instead of phosphorous. The major implication is that phosphorous was thought to be an absolute requirement for any organism, yet these bacteria were supplied no phosphorous. Whether these bacteria use no phosphorous at all is debatable, but they certainly don’t use much.
Yep. I gathered that much as well after the nuclear-option hype machine left it’s media crater. Bit of a stretch, that was.