Today NASA held a press conference detailing research on a new life-form that’s DNA is different from every other life-form we have knowledge of. They explained their research on a bacteria that uses the element arsenic in it’s DNA backbone instead of phosphorous, the element in the backbone of all other known life-forms. Although, this is NOT an alien, it is NOT a extraterrestrial life brought to us on an asteroid to escape it’s dying planet, it’s not even completely foreign in it’s DNA, BUT this news does have great implications for future research of alien life in the universe.

A bacteria found in Mono Lake, (Located in California) a strain known as GFAJ-1 does not even depend on arsenic. In fact it grows better with phosphorous. What the researchers looked at was growth in a purely arsenic containing environment. The arsenic is normally poisonous to all life, but they found bacterial life growing in this arsenic environment, and they believe that the bacteria has used arsenic to take the place of phosphorous in it’s DNA backbone.

Some wonder about why NASA is conducting this research here on earth. NASA is involved in several biological experiments which may have direct or indirect relationship to space research. If this bacteria can use arsenic, which everyone previously believed to be poisonous to life, as it’s DNA building block then alien life could also use something other than what we know here on Earth. Our search for life has always been based on what we know here on Earth, if life’s fundamental building blocks can be something completely different than what we know here on Earth, it broadens the search for extraterrestrial life. It changes how we look at the universe, and it even changes how we look at life itself.

Although, this is not exciting as finding alien life on another planet, this does has great implications for science, what we know about life and evolution, and what needs to exists on other planets in order for organisms to exist.

Photo: edfarrellphotography