I know this isn't particularly new technology, but this new lifeform found in a California lake could have a tremendous impact on modern technology. This new bacteria can use arsenic, which is usually poisonous to life, as one of its key nutrient elements.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=arsenic-life
"Life will find a way" seems to be a fitting phrase to describe most "extremophiles", those bacteria that thrive in the most inhospitable locations on the planet (lava vents under water or in "sulfur caverns"). But this Arsenic based lifeform makes the extremeophiles seem like wimps. This new bacteria leaves open the possibility of other nutrient combinations that make up entirely different kinds of biological activity. Life as we know it, then, might not be all there is—for either terrestrial or extraterrestrial biology. This discovery gives promise to the existence of alien life.
No comments:
Post a Comment