NASA Sets News Conference on Astrobiology Discovery

[suelarue]

Nasa has announced a news conference regarding an astrobiological discovery on December 2nd. According to the announcement from the Nasa website http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/nov/HQ_M10-167_Astrobiology.html it states that the Science Journal has embargoed any details on the discovery until 2 p.m. EST On Dec. 2.

Here is the announcement:

MEDIA ADVISORY : M10-167


NASA Sets News Conference on Astrobiology Discovery; Science Journal Has Embargoed Details Until 2 p.m. EST On Dec. 2


WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. EST on Thursday, Dec. 2, to discuss an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life. Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe.

The news conference will be held at the NASA Headquarters auditorium at 300 E St. SW, in Washington. It will be broadcast live on NASA Television and streamed on the agency's website at http://www.nasa.gov.

Participants are:
- Mary Voytek, director, Astrobiology Program, NASA Headquarters, Washington
- Felisa Wolfe-Simon, NASA astrobiology research fellow, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, Calif.
- Pamela Conrad, astrobiologist, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
- Steven Benner, distinguished fellow, Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution, Gainesville, Fla.
- James Elser, professor, Arizona State University, Tempe

Media representatives may attend the conference or ask questions by phone or from participating NASA locations. To obtain dial-in information, journalists must send their name, affiliation and telephone number to Steve Cole at stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov or call 202-358-0918 by noon Dec. 2.

For NASA TV streaming video and downlink information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv


For more information about NASA astrobiology activities, visit:

http://astrobiology.nasa.gov

My husband told me that some forums have speculated this announcement has to do with a moon of Saturn but I don't know what forums he was talking about or if there is any credence to that whatsoever.


Interesting how vague they are being about the details though I'm not familiar with how NASA usually sets these announcements up so this may be par for the course.

 

[sleepermustawaken]

May be it is what the Cs have claimed that as a short/quick burst the "government" will announce the findings of "alien bacteria" or may be the possibility of having found "living" organisms within our own solar system.

I'll wait with anticipation that I may be way off, but this is my first thought.

 

[Vulcan59]

Could be something to do with the recent announcement below, OSIT.

Saturn Moon Has Oxygen Atmosphere

 

[suelarue]

Could be something to do with the recent announcement below, OSIT. Roll Eyes

Saturn Moon Has Oxygen Atmosphere

Could be, but the Rhea information was announced by astronomers in November, so why would there be an "embargo" on details by NASA until December 2nd? They sure seem to be trying to make this sound mysterious.

 

[combsbt]

Maybe it's related to this: http://www.sott.net/articles/show/218217-Ice-Meteorite-Found-with-Extraterrestrial-Life-Forms

 

[rylek]

May be it is what the Cs have claimed that as a short/quick burst the "government" will announce the findings of "alien bacteria" or may be the possibility of having found "living" organisms within our own solar system.

That was my thought as well, maybe some connection to Mars since they've been digging around it for a quite a while now.

We'll see what comes of it.

 

[Marcus-Aurelius]

May be it is what the Cs have claimed that as a short/quick burst the "government" will announce the findings of "alien bacteria" or may be the possibility of having found "living" organisms within our own solar system.

That was my thought as well, maybe some connection to Mars since they've been digging around it for a quite a while now.

We'll see what comes of it.

This is my take too! It has been my 1st thought when reading about this conference.
Let's wait and see!

 

[durabone]

Pending NASA Astrobiology announcement (DEC 2, 2PM EST)

Interesting, NASA does not usually pre-announce stuff.

Hmmm:

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/nov/HQ_M10-167_Astrobiology.html

"Embargo?!"

 

[1984]

Interesting, NASA does not usually pre-announce stuff.

Hmmm:

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/nov/HQ_M10-167_Astrobiology.html

"Embargo?!"

Hi Potamus, I merged your thread to this existing one here.

 

[combsbt]

Looks like they found a life form based on different building blocks than currently known life:

_http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/12/nasa-finds-new-life/

At their conference today, NASA scientist Felisa Wolfe Simon will announce that they have found a bacteria whose DNA is completely alien to what we know today. Instead of using phosphorus, the bacteria uses arsenic. All life on Earth is made of six components: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur. Every being, from the smallest amoeba to the largest whale, share the same life stream. Our DNA blocks are all the same.

But not this one. This one is completely different. Discovered in the poisonous Mono Lake, California, this bacteria is made of arsenic, something that was thought to be completely impossible. While she and other scientists theorized that this could be possible, this is the first discovery. The implications of this discovery are enormous to our understanding of life itself and the possibility of finding beings in other planets that don’t have to be like planet Earth.

 

[combsbt]

I just watched the live broadcast on NASA TV of the news conference where this info was "released". It seems that the apparent ability of this microbe to 'substitute' arsenic in the place of phosphorous is what is taking place here. This is not to be confused with what could be considered a fully 'alien' structure with no Phosphorous at all. The Guardian article explains it in a little more detail: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/dec/02/nasa-bacteria-arsenic-phosphorus

It was interesting to me that Carl Sagan was mentioned twice and also mentioned was an episode of Star Trek that involved beings which had substituted silicon in the place of carbon in their atomic structure. In the somewhat notorious 'response' to the Arecibo message, co-authored by Sagan, Silicon was added to the original list of Hydrogen, Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, and Phosphorous.

edit: I mean to say that the Arecibo message was co-authored by Sagan, not necessarily the response.

 

[ScioAgapeOmnis]

An article with some more details about the finding:

_http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2010/12/02/mono-lake-bacteria-build-their-dna-using-arsenic-and-no-this-isnt-about-aliens/

 

[tridean]

Un-Earth like bacteria found

_http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/12/02/5564852-life-as-we-dont-know-it-on-earth?GT1=43001

Interesting but also the end part

Science lifted its embargo on the research paper, "A Bacterium That Can Grow by Using Arsenic Instead of Phosphorus," shortly after noon ET today. The AAAS said the embargo was lifted because "news reports disclosing the findings in the paper are now appearing online."

 

[anart]

Re: Un-Earth like bacteria found

Hi Dingo, this is already being discussed here so I've merged the threads.

 

[Cyre2067]

Seems to be just another gag for funding. Imho its not even that big a discovery, unless you're super interested in extreme thermophiles and the like.