![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/PH20101202042841.jpg\" "\\"PH2010120204284\\"")
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<\/span><\/p>\n washingtonpost.com NASA held a press conference Thursday afternoon in which they revealed the discovery of arsenic-based life forms on Earth. As Marc Kaufman explained:<\/p>\n All life on Earth – from microbes to elephants and us – is based on a single genetic model that requires the element phosphorus as one of its six essential components.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n But now researchers have uncovered a bacterium that has five of those essential elements but has, in effect, replaced phosphorus with its look-alike but toxic cousin arsenic.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n News of the discovery caused a scientific commotion, including calls to NASA from the White House and Congress asking whether a second line of earthly life has been found.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n While speculation had been building of the possible discovery of extraterrestrial life, Melissa Bell brings us back to Earth:<\/p>\n Before you get disappointed, realize that while not as sexy as a little green man, it is a big deal. No other life form exists off arsenic. It had long been the assumption that without six certain essential elements — carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur — life could not exist. This discovery shows “life-as-we-know-it could be much more flexible than we generally assume or can imagine,” Felisa Wolfe-Simon a NASA biochemist told the Post’s Marc Kaufman.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Post’s satire columnist Alexandra Petri had this to say about the new discovery:<\/p>\n I picture this bacteria as sort of a hipster. “Oh, you’re still using phosphorus?” it asks. “Yeah, I liked phosphorus during its blue period, but I’ve moved on to arsenic.” “Isn’t that lethal?” a regular earth bacteria asks, nervously. “It’s an acquired taste,” the arsenic bacteria responds.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Apparently, the place to find this sort of bacteria is Mono Lake, California. Admittedly, the announcement that someone has found a totally alien life-form in California is not exactly breaking news. Usually the California response to finding completely alien life is to give it a reality TV show.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Still, this is big news.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n More from the <\/strong>Washington Post<\/strong><\/p>\n Graphic: Life as we don’t know it<\/p>\n Science: EPA chief prepares for the fight ahead<\/p>\n Tech: Cellular networks collapse a possiblity<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Washington Post Staff washingtonpost.com Thursday, December 2, 2010; 4:00 PM NASA held a press conference Thursday afternoon in which they revealed the discovery of arsenic-based life forms on Earth. As Marc Kaufman explained: All life on Earth – from microbes to elephants and us – is based on a single genetic model that requires the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":28233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-turkey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Washington Post Staff<\/span><\/div>\n
\nThursday, December 2, 2010; 4:00 PM<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n