http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11410410

WOOO

Should be easy to do, requires 0 mana

It is really interesting but it is really too early to speculate if life exists in that planet.
And anyway, I'm quite bored with getting excited with "life could exist in that planet" theory =p. I'll wait for proper evidence.

nathanielandbartimaeus wrote:And anyway, I'm quite bored with getting excited with "life could exist in that planet" theory =p. I'll wait for proper evidence.

I concur. This is an exciting discovery in terms of what it implies for the existence rates of potentially life-hosting planets, and similarly for our ability to detect them, but it's silly to speculate as to whether the planet has life at this point.

Hmm.

So, yesterday NASA held a press conference that was described beforehand as a breakthrough in finding extraterrestrial life.

Did they find life on Saturn's moons?

Have they discovered a planet bursting with activity?

Did their probe can attacked by alien ships?

Not quite

It's still an extremely interesting find. Swapping any of the major six elements life is built of has never been observed before. Since phosphorus is a part of ATP (the energy transfer molecule) and the backbone of DNA, but not the standard amino acids or DNA base pairs, this suggests a widening of the range of environments in which recognisably earth-like life could exist (given that amino acids are a fairly common molecule - simple ones have been observed in interstellar dust clouds). And the implications (i.e., that other important elements could also be swapped) are wider still.

Sentynel wrote:It's still an extremely interesting find. Swapping any of the major six elements life is built of has never been observed before. Since phosphorus is a part of ATP (the energy transfer molecule) and the backbone of DNA, but not the standard amino acids or DNA base pairs, this suggests a widening of the range of environments in which recognisably earth-like life could exist (given that amino acids are a fairly common molecule - simple ones have been observed in interstellar dust clouds). And the implications (i.e., that other important elements could also be swapped) are wider still.

Aye. And, structurally, it quite easy to imagine an arsenic backbone in place of the phosphate one. Both being in the fifteenth group.

Indeed, the issue with arsenic for most life is precisely that it is chemically so similar to phosphorus but the reactivity is different - it gets used in ATP in place of phosphates (well, I suppose it'd be ATA with arsenic in), but gets stuck there and thus shuts down the energy transfer, with obviously rather unfortunate effects.

On another note, I actually still understand the above three posts. Tell that to my mom, who thinks a year of nothing but art class will rot my brain. :D

It's cool, but I am surprised that this is so new, I'd never thought that phosphates were considered so critical. Mind you, the Bio classes at my level are mostly concerned with fact memorization, so whatever

Oh, phosphates are very important. Apart from being used in ATP (also that means GTP, CTP and UTP or TTP/dTTP) and one could even talk about the important roles mono and di-phosphates play) and as backbones of DNA, they are part of NADP/NADPH which are important for catalyzing oxidation-reduction reactions.
Oh, and possibly it is because biology classes in school seldom teach biochemistry. It is more often covered in chemistry is school.

Our biochemistry in Grade 12 Chem went as far as: look at these hydrocarbons, learn how they go together. Mind you, my course was online, so it could have been different.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 100955.htm
I don't much like the sound of that, to be honest. You can learn biology in better, more interesting ways. The game seems more about controlling an organism than actually effectively learning anything. I don't think many people playing those games would actually look at it as an experiment. And, from whatever is mentioned there, it doesn't really seem much like an experiment.

On another note, I went to a science and technology fest recently. It was brilliant! I saw so many human-like robots function. They were developed by many international universities working on robotics and artificial intelligence. But what I honestly liked best was the Robowars. Students developed robot machines and they fought. Amazingly cool.

nathanielandbartimaeus wrote:http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 100955.htm
I don't much like the sound of that, to be honest. You can learn biology in better, more interesting ways. The game seems more about controlling an organism than actually effectively learning anything. I don't think many people playing those games would actually look at it as an experiment. And, from whatever is mentioned there, it doesn't really seem much like an experiment.

On another note, I went to a science and technology fest recently. It was brilliant! I saw so many human-like robots function. They were developed by many international universities working on robotics and artificial intelligence. But what I honestly liked best was the Robowars. Students developed robot machines and they fought. Amazingly cool.

I think things could go both ways on that side. You could actually gain something, but on the other hand such looseness can distract people from the actual purpose.

And yeah I've built a robot before. It was perfect....expect one SINGLE GEAR was off by a few millimeters. So only one wheel worked. And when there's only two wheels (the robot was like a plow), and one only works once every few dozen rotations....

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http://www.theprovince.com/technology/s ... id=4204632

Very good.

Fantastic. I've been following the space junk problem for a few years now, and finally someone comes up with a solution.

I've wondered about various forms of space sweepers for a while. The biggest issue I can see is the necessity of not hitting functional satellites limits the volume of sky it can effectively sweep.

Fox was once Man's Best Friend?

Reminds me of The Little Prince. =)

Lithium may increase longevity

Bilingual babies
I've been raised trilingual. :)

You should see the thoerm for time

I'm not sure how conclusive their evidence is yet. People claim to find Atlantis all the time.

On the other hand, it does seem plausible.