NASA to hold a news conference

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  • Kouji_SanKouji_San Sr. Hινε Uρкεερεг - EUPT Deputy The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-05-13 Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    edited December 2010
    <!--quoteo(post=1812493:date=Dec 2 2010, 02:33 PM:name=Align)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Align @ Dec 2 2010, 02:33 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1812493"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Really? Huh. It's Europa for both in Swedish, so I figured... yeah.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Heh, every language has a weird name for Europe. In Dutch, German, Polish and African it's also Europa

    But Turkish for instance it's Avrupa. Or even more oddball in Russian Европе...

    And so on :D



    Wait, why are we discussing Europa again?
  • locallyunscenelocallyunscene Feeder of Trolls Join Date: 2002-12-25 Member: 11528Members, Constellation
    <!--quoteo(post=1812649:date=Dec 2 2010, 09:02 PM:name=Kouji_San)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Kouji_San @ Dec 2 2010, 09:02 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1812649"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Heh, every language has a weird name for Europe. In Dutch, German, Polish and African it's also Europa

    But Turkish for instance it's Avrupa. Or even more oddball in Russian Европе...

    And so on :D



    Wait, why are we discussing Europa again?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    More polite than Uranus.
  • Kouji_SanKouji_San Sr. Hινε Uρкεερεг - EUPT Deputy The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-05-13 Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    <!--quoteo(post=1812674:date=Dec 3 2010, 02:37 AM:name=locallyunscene)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (locallyunscene @ Dec 3 2010, 02:37 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1812674"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->More polite than Uranus.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Point taken!
  • spellman23spellman23 NS1 Theorycraft Expert Join Date: 2007-05-17 Member: 60920Members
    Europa Universalis.

    It's all under MY control. As Russia. Booyah.
  • palliepallie Join Date: 2009-10-12 Member: 69028Members
    <a href="http://xkcd.com/829/" target="_blank">http://xkcd.com/829/</a>

    Haha :D
  • ZaggyZaggy NullPointerException The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-12-10 Member: 24214Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Onos, Subnautica Playtester
    So um, what does this mean?
  • RobRob Unknown Enemy Join Date: 2002-01-24 Member: 25Members, NS1 Playtester
    edited December 2010
    <!--quoteo(post=1812900:date=Dec 3 2010, 10:35 AM:name=Zaggy)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Zaggy @ Dec 3 2010, 10:35 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1812900"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->So um, what does this mean?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    I believe that for the people interested in science purely for discovery's sake, it means a re-evaluation of our assumptions about what's necessary to form protein chains. At least if the discovery holds up under scrutiny. That's very exciting.

    For the rest of us, it could make anything from nothing to a major change in biochemistry applications. All kinds of things could be effected in the next (magic science number of years) 20 years: food and fuel production, synthetic compound production, alcoholic beverage production... anywhere we rely on an enzyme to do work for us, I think.

    Or just some crazy lady has forced arsenic into the DNA chain, threw it into an environment, watched it live a pathetic and painful life, and declared a major victory. You decide.

    [edit] typos
  • locallyunscenelocallyunscene Feeder of Trolls Join Date: 2002-12-25 Member: 11528Members, Constellation
    edited December 2010
    <!--quoteo(post=1812900:date=Dec 3 2010, 09:35 AM:name=Zaggy)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Zaggy @ Dec 3 2010, 09:35 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1812900"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->So um, what does this mean?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    DOUBLE RAIN....<Ahem>

    From what I've read:
    <!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur are the six basic building blocks of all known forms of life on Earth. Phosphorus is part of the chemical backbone of DNA and RNA, the structures that carry genetic instructions for life, and is considered an essential element for all living cells.

    Phosphorus is a central component of the energy-carrying molecule in all cells (adenosine triphosphate) and also the phospholipids that form all cell membranes. Arsenic, which is chemically similar to phosphorus, is poisonous for most life on Earth. Arsenic disrupts metabolic pathways because chemically it behaves similarly to phosphate.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Also
    <!--quoteo(post=0:date=:name=Some Guy on the Internet)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Some Guy on the Internet)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->[Arsenic is] less stable as a backbone of DNA. So if the degree of replacement is as thorough as NASA claims (they said they cultured it with zero phosphorous present - so only trace impurities) the cell has either found a way to strengthen the backbone or has developed an amazing repair mechanism which can deal with frequent DNA damage.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Also it's unclear how/if the bacteria make ATP (Adenosine TriPhosphate, the cellular power source) in phosphorus free environment.
  • X_StickmanX_Stickman Not good enough for a custom title. Join Date: 2003-04-15 Member: 15533Members, Constellation
    <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/12/its_not_an_arsenic-based_life.php" target="_blank">Pharyngula blogged the hell out of this.</a>
  • AlignAlign Remain Calm Join Date: 2002-11-02 Member: 5216Forum Moderators, Constellation
  • SopsSops Join Date: 2003-07-03 Member: 17894Members, Constellation
    <!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Just after Thanksgiving, Marshall L. Reaves got a package in the mail. He’d been anticipating it for months. And scientists worldwide were anticipating the answers that package might bring.

    The special delivery for Reaves, a graduate student in chemist Joshua D. Rabino*witz’ lab at Princeton University, contained several small plastic tubes holding DNA. The DNA came from GFAJ-1, the microbe that’s lived in infamy ever since researchers plucked it from California’s arsenic-rich Mono Lake and claimed it has arsenic in place of phosphorus in its biomolecules, including DNA (C&EN, Dec. 6, 2010, page 36; Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.1197258). The package came from University of British Columbia microbiologist Rosemary J. Redfield, Reaves’s collaborator and one of the work’s many critics (C&EN, Dec. 13, 2010, page 7).

    This month, Redfield posted online mass spectrometry data Reaves obtained by analyzing the package’s contents along with the conclusion, based in part on those results, that she and her colleagues reached: The DNA from GFAJ-1 contains no arsenic. Compared with the high-profile press conference, front-page headlines, and scientific backlash the original report generated, which included eight rebuttals published in Science (C&EN, June 6, 2011, page 7), the response to Reaves’s preliminary data has thus far been sedate. But the so-called arsenic-life paper has left a noticeable footprint on science and science communication just over a year after its publication.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    <a href="http://cen.acs.org/articles/90/web/2012/01/Arsenic-Based-Life-Aftermath.html" target="_blank">Source</a>
  • AlignAlign Remain Calm Join Date: 2002-11-02 Member: 5216Forum Moderators, Constellation
    So, that's... that.
  • Konohas Perverted HermitKonohas Perverted Hermit Join Date: 2008-09-26 Member: 65075Members
    Sounds like a cover up. ;)
  • ByekaByeka Name changed from Freak83 Toronto Join Date: 2003-03-13 Member: 14484Members, Constellation
    What the bump?

    Okay... still good to know. I like this kinda stuff.
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