After much speculation, NASA, in a press conference, revealed the piece of research that they had hinted at: a microbe that thrives in arsenic, replacing phosphorus with the toxic element.
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/astrobiology_toxic_chemical.html
Ok, so it's not the "life on Titan" announcement that everyone was hoping for, but this is a big discovery, since in all other known life forms, arsenic disrupts the metabolic pathways, because it is chemically similar to phosphorus. So instead of the usual Carbon, Nitrogen, Hydrogen, Sulfur, Oxygen and Phosphorus found in all other life forms, its 6 basic chemicals are CHONAS rather than CHONPS I remember learning back in basic biology courses.
Its DNA and RNA must be heavy, since arsenic is twice as heavy as phosphorus.
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/astrobiology_toxic_chemical.html
Ok, so it's not the "life on Titan" announcement that everyone was hoping for, but this is a big discovery, since in all other known life forms, arsenic disrupts the metabolic pathways, because it is chemically similar to phosphorus. So instead of the usual Carbon, Nitrogen, Hydrogen, Sulfur, Oxygen and Phosphorus found in all other life forms, its 6 basic chemicals are CHONAS rather than CHONPS I remember learning back in basic biology courses.
Its DNA and RNA must be heavy, since arsenic is twice as heavy as phosphorus.