Yup: Nasa Discovers Arsenic-Using Microbobe In California Lake

Yes~! Nasa has revealed that it did, in fact, find a microbe (GFAJ-1, to be exact) in Mono Lake, in California, that’s able to substitute arsenic for phosphorus. Nasa just comes right out and says it: “The definition of life has just expanded. As we pursue our efforts to seek signs of life in the solar system, we have to think more broadly, more diversely and consider life as we do not know it.”

That’s pretty much what I said earlier today: I like to think that there may be forms of life Out There that we totally don’t understand. The sooner we recognize that, the better.

The full paper will be published in this week’s edition of Science Express.