NASA announcement?!

[DeadLocked]

They have discovered Mass Effect.

Oh man that would be so awesome

but never open to the public for another gazillion years :

 

[Satangel]

Hopefully it's something useful and really newsworthy. Although I really doubt that. It's probably a planet that is very alike to Earth, but like millions of light years away so we'll never reach it.

 

[Thoob]

Am I the only one who thought of "Deception Point" when I read that?

I thought of this as well!

Yeah, if it's the arsenic bacteria thing then I'll be a bit disappointed... I know it's significant, but it's not really that exciting, is it?

 

[Rydian]

"I don't know about you but I've not been so excited about a bacteria since my STD tests came back clean."

 

[431unknown]

Same here. Its a significant find but disapointing at the same time. Now if it was found in a rock from mars that would have been a whole different ball game.

 

[ProtoKun7]

Maybe that's just a red herring

There are space herrings now?

 

[Crass]

Maybe that's just a red herring

There are space herrings now?

Arsenic-based herrings actually, if I am understanding this right.

 

[aiRWaLKRe]

Screw spending money looking for life on other planets, How about fixing the life mankind has effed up on this planet. But no mankind is a virus we just spread, multiply and take over an area till its desolate and decayed then move on and take over an other area. Keep it up then mankind will need a new planet to destroy. Hopefully technology doesn't get that far for interplanetary travel and mankind dies out in a few hundred years...

 

[Thoob]

Screw spending money looking for life on other planets, How about fixing the life mankind has effed up on this planet. But no mankind is a virus we just spread, multiply and take over an area till its desolate and decayed then move on and take over an other area. Keep it up then mankind will need a new planet to destroy. Hopefully technology doesn't get that far for interplanetary travel and mankind dies out in a few hundred years...

Well aren't you a happy chappy?

 

[GeekyGuy]

The lady who "led the discovery" may be a great scientist, but she's definitely not a great communicator. CNN even cut her announcement short, as it seemed they felt viewers were quickly losing interest. Rather than simply reveal the discovery, she was trying to lead a science class or lecture. Not too interesting.

 

[DeMoN]

ET Life does exist, but it's too primitive and too far away for us to ever meet. I think this is the general consensus.

Whoops, looks like their announcement wasn't about aliens after all. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101202/sc_nm/...rsenic_bacteria

 

[Zetta_x]

Assassin: Haha, that glass of wine was full of Arsenic!
Me: Haha *****, Arsenic keeps me healthy. Thanks for your cheap *** wine!

I can only imagine. After thousands of years, intelligent beings from other planets will be thinking of the one day we will be visiting them.

 

[Bladexdsl]

BIG FAR MEH now when they announce that they have made warp drive than i'll be excited

 

[Veho]

BIG FAR MEH now when they announce that they have made warp drive than i'll be excited

The Chinese are building one

 

[mameks]

Oo~, I remember the Chinese sent a...proton

1km, or something, in essentially no time at all. Teleportation ~(O_O)~

 

[SifJar]

It wasn't really that big a deal if you ask me. For those who didn't hear/understand, here's the basics of it:

A chemical called "phosphorus" is found in DNA and RNA (RNA is involved in making proteins). Both DNA and RNA are essential to life, hence it was assumed so was phosphorus.

But somebody found a bacteria in a lake (on Earth, note) that had the poison Arsenic in its DNA instead of phosphorus. Meaning that on planets without phosphorus, it may be possible that there is life, with arsenic (or potentially i guess a different phosphorus substitute) in the DNA.

Phosphorus is also involved in photosynthesis, i.e. it is also essential to plants.

And while this may mean that there is a chance of life in less hospitable environments than Earth, it's not a huge deal IMO. For all we know, if there were life out there, it may not even have DNA etc. Just because that's how things are on Earth doesn't mean it'd have to be the same elsewhere.

Anyway, I think there are far better things money could be spent on than space exploration and searching for extraterrestrial life. I mean, I love science as much as the next guy, but when there are people starving and dying of horrible diseases, why should we be wasting money sending big chunks of metal into space? Priorities need sorted if you ask me.

EDIT: Thought I'd add something more: This also highlight's the lack of knowledge scientist's have. Till this discovery, they thought that phosphorus was essential to life, now they know it isn't. Basically, this just shows that not all lifeforms are as scientists expected, which in effect "opens the boundaries" a bit as to where life could occur. The fact that this variation is possible indicates that others could also be possible.

 

[Zetta_x]

Anyway, I think there are far better things money could be spent on than space exploration and searching for extraterrestrial life. I mean, I love science as much as the next guy, but when there are people starving and dying of horrible diseases, why should we be wasting money sending big chunks of metal into space? Priorities need sorted if you ask me.

To me this is backwards. When we have a potential overpopulation problem in our hands (since growth rates are exponential), why are we spending so much money on keeping people alive? Why are we keeping the weakest to survive? You know how many people leech off of welfare when we could be spending this type of money on something like colonizing other planets and other space adventures.

QUOTEEDIT: Thought I'd add something more: This also highlight's the lack of knowledge scientist's have. Till this discovery, they thought that phosphorus was essential to life, now they know it isn't. Basically, this just shows that not all lifeforms are as scientists expected, which in effect "opens the boundaries" a bit as to where life could occur. The fact that this variation is possible indicates that others could also be possible.

I agree to this, if they were mathematicians they couldn't have made that mistake

They made it under the assumption that DNA could not be made without phosphorus without proving that claim. It is only necessary that the assumption would eventually either be proved or shown invalid.

 

[Stevetry]

It wasn't really that big a deal if you ask me. For those who didn't hear/understand, here's the basics of it:

A chemical called "phosphorus" is found in DNA and RNA (RNA is involved in making proteins). Both DNA and RNA are essential to life, hence it was assumed so was phosphorus.

But somebody found a bacteria in a lake (on Earth, note) that had the poison Arsenic in its DNA instead of phosphorus. Meaning that on planets without phosphorus, it may be possible that there is life, with arsenic (or potentially i guess a different phosphorus substitute) in the DNA.

Phosphorus is also involved in photosynthesis, i.e. it is also essential to plants.

And while this may mean that there is a chance of life in less hospitable environments than Earth, it's not a huge deal IMO. For all we know, if there were life out there, it may not even have DNA etc. Just because that's how things are on Earth doesn't mean it'd have to be the same elsewhere.

Anyway, I think there are far better things money could be spent on than space exploration and searching for extraterrestrial life. I mean, I love science as much as the next guy, but when there are people starving and dying of horrible diseases, why should we be wasting money sending big chunks of metal into space? Priorities need sorted if you ask me.

EDIT: Thought I'd add something more: This also highlight's the lack of knowledge scientist's have. Till this discovery, they thought that phosphorus was essential to life, now they know it isn't. Basically, this just shows that not all lifeforms are as scientists expected, which in effect "opens the boundaries" a bit as to where life could occur. The fact that this variation is possible indicates that others could also be possible.

to me it was the it opens new doors to the understanding of life you just mad that this may destroy you belief you may have in something

 

[SifJar]

to me it was the it opens new doors to the understanding of life you just mad that this may destroy you belief you may have in something

Doesn't destroy any of my beliefs. I just honestly believe there are better ways to spend the money. I am still fascinated by the discovery though. And I do like understanding stuff

To me this is backwards. When we have a potential overpopulation problem in our hands (since growth rates are exponential), why are we spending so much money on keeping people alive? Why are we keeping the weakest to survive? You know how many people leech off of welfare when we could be spending this type of money on something like colonizing other planets and other space adventures.

So you'd just let people die, to make life easier? That's what's wrong with the world today if you ask me. Provided no-one's asking you to give up your life to make things easier and lessen the burden on others, let's make others do it.

(Note: This is not an attempt at a personal attack on you, it is generally against society, and I am aware its fairly off topic. Your post just brought to mind something I feel quite strongly about. I apologize if I offend with my post.)

Although I agree about the welfare statement, handouts are given far too readily in some countries, meaning people have no motivation to actually get a job and do some work.

QUOTE(Zetta_x' post ='3303966 @ Dec 2 2010, 09:39PM)

I agree to this, if they were mathematicians they couldn't have made that mistake

Definitely, mathematicians FTW

 

[Bladexdsl]

BIG FAR MEH now when they announce that they have made warp drive than i'll be excited

The Chinese are building one

that doesnt even look like a warp drive!!!