Liverpool FC Forum

[kalos]

Like fivecups I'll wait and see....especially since:

The  researchers "have coaxed a microbe" [/U]  to build itself with arsenic in the place of phosphorus, an unprecedented substitution of one of the six essential ingredients of life

So it needed interference from humans - so even if validated all it will prove is that with outside interference form clever scientists the microbe did something out of the ordinary.

The following quotes form the original post are also interesting:

"Then the team started force-feeding the critters arsenate, an analogous form of arsenic, in greater and greater quantities."

"lot of work is needed to conclusively show exactly how the microbe is using arsenate"

We'll wait and see...

[andy_g]

yes, but the point isn't whether it will do it spontaneously just for the fun of it or not, the point is that it can. if we just sat watching organisms waiting for them to do something out of the ordinary then we wouldn't get much science done.

[Emerald Red]

What I want to know is, what can be gleamed from all this? What are, if at all, the practical applications out of the discovery scientifically later down the road?

[andy_g]

you mean 'gleaned' right?

well there's no 'application' of this discovery, strictly speaking, but it tells us a lot about the possibilities for life. it tells us that if we want to make a serious search for life on other planets then we need to significantly broaden our criteria and rethink our methods. environments that we were more or less certain would be completely inhospitable to life might, in the end, actually be quite suitable.

[Emerald Red]

you mean 'gleaned' right?

well there's no 'application' of this discovery, strictly speaking, but it tells us a lot about the possibilities for life. it tells us that if we want to make a serious search for life on other planets then we need to significantly broaden our criteria and rethink our methods. environments that we were more or less certain would be completely inhospitable to life might, in the end, actually be quite suitable.

HAHA, yeah. Even before I came back in here, I knew I'd spelt that wrong.

As for the rest, so basically what was once theory to the likes of Hawking, can now be stated as fact? I mean, science fiction writers have been witing stuff like this for decades. I'm not normally one to use internet jargon, but the word "meh" sums my feelings up.

[andy_g]

'fact' is a dangerous word to throw about when discussing science. mostly we still have theory, but the theory has moved on a little. i'm not much into the old web jargon either, but i'd probably sum up my feelings with 'r0xx0rz'

[Emerald Red]

'fact' is a dangerous word to throw about when discussing science. mostly we still have theory, but the theory has moved on a little. i'm not much into the old web jargon either, but i'd probably sum up my feelings with 'r0xx0rz'

Well, when this arsenic based life form grows a set of t*ts, bollox, or legs and maybe some arms and fingers, starts walking about or paints a masterpiece, or composes a classic, give me a shout. For the time being, I'm still trying to figure out other weird and interesting life forms known as women, and other stuff like why sh*t stinks. Things like that.

[burjennio]

Im still trying to find the droids I was looking for