NASA Fucked up (again)?

[$5 submissions]

NASA recently announced its discovery of arsenic-based life. This is big news since ALL LIFE as we currently know it uses phosphorus for DNA. No phosophorus = no life. So this discovery changes our definition of life, right?

Not so fast claim other scientists: http://www.slate.com/id/2276919

When the NASA scientists took the DNA out of the bacteria, for example, they ought to have taken extra steps to wash away any other kinds of molecules. Without these precautions, arsenic could have simply glommed to the DNA, like gum on a shoe. "It is pretty trivial to do a much better job," said Rohwer.

In fact, says Harvard microbiologist Alex Bradley, the NASA scientists unknowingly demonstrated the flaws in their own experiment. They immersed the DNA in water as they analyzed it, he points out. Arsenic compounds fall apart quickly in water, so if it really was in the microbe's genes, it should have broken into fragments, Bradley wrote Sunday in a guest post on the blog We, Beasties. But the DNA remained in large chunks?presumably because it was made of durable phosphate. Bradley got his Ph.D. under MIT professor Roger Summons, who co-authored the 2007 weird-life report. Summons backs his former student's critique.

But how could the bacteria be using phosphate when they weren't getting any in the lab? That was the point of the experiment, after all. It turns out the NASA scientists were feeding the bacteria salts which they freely admit were contaminated with a tiny amount of phosphate. It's possible, the critics argue, that the bacteria eked out a living on that scarce supply. As Bradley notes, the Sargasso Sea supports plenty of microbes while containing 300 times less phosphate than was present in the lab cultures.

Sloppy lab work = bad science

[minicivan]

Still not as bad as Clinton announcing life on Mars

[TheSenator]

3rd World America at its Best

[PornGreen]

Originally Posted by minicivan

Still not as bad as Clinton announcing life on Mars

lol what?

[2MuchMark]

Originally Posted by minicivan

Still not as bad as Clinton announcing life on Mars

But if he hadn't done that, Bob Zemmekis wouldn't have had all that great footage for Contact.

[PornMD]

We give them how much funding again?

[grumpy]

they need funding, so any news is news

[seeandsee]

Originally Posted by minicivan

Still not as bad as Clinton announcing life on Mars

Obama will tax them too

[$5 submissions]

Originally Posted by grumpy

they need funding, so any news is news

The last page of that article lists a possible motive behind this "Rush" to publish.

The alleged fuckups in this study reminds me of the COLD FUSION fiasco 2 decades ago when some scientists claimed they were able to do cold fusion in the lab.

[raven1083]

Originally Posted by seeandsee

Obama will tax them too

[idtapdat]

just another day and dollar for them..