New Life Form Found on Earth

NASA announced today that it has discovered a microorganism that lives off arsenic. It has been dubbed microbe GFAJ-1 and is the first known life to have a DNA structure different than all other life forms. 6 elements are considered the building blocks of life on earth - arsenic not being one of them. Before this, scientists thought an environment without these elements (especially phosphorus) could not support life.

The discovery lends support to life existing elsewhere in the universe.

Not All Bad

A comet hitting Earth does more than bring death and destruction - at least that is what researchers at the SETI Institute are trying to prove. Comets could promote certain necessary chemical steps for the origin of life - particularly how comet collisions might have influenced biology's molecular chirality (handed-ness).

Most amino acids, the building blocks of life, exist in 'left-handed' and 'right-handed' forms. Life makes and uses only 'left-handed' amino acids. Comets could have not only helped form, but also bring a massive supply of amino acids to earth to begin the process of life. Comets also carry water with them.

Amino Acid Essential for Life found in Comet

NASA scientists believe they have discovered glycine, which organisms use to make proteins, in a comet.

The discovery, the first of its kind, supports the notion that life's building blocks came from, and are prevalent, in space. More important, it helps further the argument that extraterrestrial life is a reality.