NASA press conference...aliens? [Archive]

Takeda Shingen

11-29-10, 11:20 PM

I think NASA figured out a way to keep the Mexicans from crossing the border

... oh wait wrong Aliens...

:O:

If NASA could do that, they might actually be worth something today.

Kidding! I can see the NASA Fan Club assembling a lynch mob. :D

The Third Man

11-29-10, 11:26 PM

If NASA's new mission was to bring ties with Muslims we can only speculate as to if this is a Muslim being. Perhaps it is?

TLAM Strike

11-29-10, 11:29 PM

If NASA could do that, they might actually be worth something today.

Kidding! I can see the NASA Fan Club assembling a lynch mob. :D

Naw we don't use lynch mobs; we prefer some sort of ballistic rocket... :O:

Buddahaid

11-29-10, 11:58 PM

NASA: Gentlemen, the good news is we've found the President's birth certificate, the bad news is........
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd52/sirwinpb/spock2.gif

I'm thinking Mars data?

razark

11-30-10, 12:21 AM

We have to do something to keep people interested. We used to have a space program to do that, but we seem to have given that up... :nope:

My guess is it's something that will sound good when they replay the sound bites, but ultimately is not enough to interest anyone outside of maybe a couple of specialized fields.

Rilder

11-30-10, 01:26 AM

Everyone is gonna be like "Oh its just NASA trying to interest us in the future of our planet"

Then BOOM:

"Ladies and Gentlemen were about to be invaded by extraterrestrials"

ReFaN

11-30-10, 02:06 AM

im going to get a Tinfoil hat.

Penguin

11-30-10, 06:44 AM

I will be one of the nerds who will actually tune in and watch this, could be interesting.

Stealth Hunter

11-30-10, 06:49 AM

Apparently, it's going to be broadcast on national television.

http://www.thatsfamous.com/6698-nasa-to-have-news-conference-on-extraterrestrial-life-discovery/

Something big is going on. Apparently, one of the folks in attendance is an expert on Saturn's moon Titan...:hmmm:

Armistead

11-30-10, 08:20 AM

Are they selling tickets for the Arks yet?

ReFaN

11-30-10, 08:50 AM

Theres something out there waiting for us...and it ain't no man. We're all gonna die.

Oberon

11-30-10, 08:58 AM

http://popcultureninja.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/id41.jpg

razark

11-30-10, 09:00 AM

Breaking News:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Mimas_moon.jpg
That's no moon!

Dowly

11-30-10, 09:06 AM

:hmmm:
https://kaosradioaustin.org/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=10487

ReFaN

11-30-10, 09:21 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alien_vs._Predator_%282004%29_-_Alien.jpg

Oberon

11-30-10, 09:27 AM

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b7/STDS9Ep301.jpg/270px-STDS9Ep301.jpg

:hmmm:

frau kaleun

11-30-10, 09:33 AM

http://files.g4tv.com/ImageDb3/30981_L/han-solo-lando-calrissian.jpg

:woot: :yeah: :D

Dowly

11-30-10, 09:36 AM

http://files.g4tv.com/ImageDb3/30981_L/han-solo-lando-calrissian.jpg
http://www.beertripper.com/OffTopic/star_wars_images/Princess_Leia_Gold_Bikini_chained.jpg
:woot::D :yeah:

Fixed. :03:

Blood_splat

11-30-10, 09:44 AM

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/7/77369/1257972-bodyart_jp_crab_super.jpg

GoldenRivet

11-30-10, 09:46 AM

ewww

Oberon

11-30-10, 09:48 AM

http://alsolikelife.com/shooting/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/starship_troopers_large_05.jpg

frau kaleun

11-30-10, 09:52 AM

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/hr/thumb/7/75/Hickspromoposter.jpg/300px-Hickspromoposter.jpg

Much more better. :yep:

TLAM Strike

11-30-10, 09:55 AM

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/7/77369/1257972-bodyart_jp_crab_super.jpg

Kill it with fire!

http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/1441/flamethrower.gif

Fish

11-30-10, 10:41 AM

GoldenRivet

11-30-10, 11:00 AM

http://www.slashgear.com/nasa-holding-press-conference-thursday-has-it-found-extraterrestrial-life-30116872/

The geeks over at Kottke.org (http://kottke.org/10/11/has-nasa-discovered-extraterrestrial-life) did some digging on the participants in the conference and found out a few details that hint at what we are looking at for Thursday.Pamela Conrad is a geobiologist who wrote about life on Mars.

Felisa Wolf-Simon is an oceanographer and has written on photosynthesis using arsenic.

Steven Benner is a biologist that is part of the “Team Titan” program studying the largest moon of Saturn.

James Elser is an ecologist that is part of a NASA-funded program dubbed Follow the Elements.

Take all of those factoids and mix them up and something very interesting emerges. Could NASA be revealing the existence of some sort of life on Titan that uses arsenic for photosynthesis?

Based on this they are probably going to make some sort of revision to their ideas as to which elements are or are not required to sustain life.

and a room full of newsies will all breathe a collective sigh of disappointment.

Herr-Berbunch

11-30-10, 11:08 AM

im going to get a Tinfoil hat.

http://markc1.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451bb2969e20120a545ddc8970c-800wi

http://rlv.zcache.com/my_other_hat_is_made_of_tin_foil_tshirt-p235249311891194853qw9u_400.jpg

And to make it seem nicer...

http://www.freakingnews.com/pictures/66500/Tin-Foil-Hat--66733.jpg

razark

11-30-10, 11:36 AM

Pamela Conrad is a geobiologist who wrote about life on Mars.
...
Steven Benner is a biologist that is part of the “Team Titan” program studying the largest moon of Saturn.

I find the inclusion of a Mars expert and a Titan expert interesting. Points me more in a general direction rather than something specific.

GoldenRivet

11-30-10, 11:43 AM

I find the inclusion of a Mars expert and a Titan expert interesting. Points me more in a general direction rather than something specific.

exactly.

Probably going to release some new hypothesis that our search for biological organisms in the universe has been too focused, and needs to adapt to expanding and changing theories on what environments can support life.

One scenario is that they managed to get some sort of small plant organism to conduct photosynthesis using arsenic in place of the usual life sustaining compounds as we know them.

based on this, they will probably have the titan and mars groups give speeches about how mars contains certain elements that could behave similarly in those environments thereby creating organic compounds even if non-earthlike conditions exist.

thats what my money is on

Dowly

11-30-10, 12:23 PM

Don't think it's going to be anything special, just a "heads up" for the general public about stuff that has been known for some time already in the space circles. :hmmm:

Penguin

11-30-10, 12:30 PM

I support the theory that some revelations about life-supporting environments in our close distance will be made.

2 days to go - where's wikileaks when we need them?

TheBrauerHour

11-30-10, 08:25 PM

...and here I am thinking that they would just stand at the podium and say "Sorry guys, we are all out of money. We are turning SETI off."

But finding little green men would be cool too.

Gargamel

11-30-10, 08:54 PM

I will be one of the nerds who will actually tune in and watch this, could be interesting.

me too!

NASA doesn't usually get all melodramatic.

TLAM Strike

11-30-10, 09:13 PM

I'm hoping it goes something like this:

"Ladies and Gentlemen; the men we sent to the Moon weren't the same ones that came back..."

Either that or that the X-37B fell through John Crichton's wormhole.

TarJak

12-01-10, 05:45 AM

V...ger! V...ger!

I'l wait until it comes out on DVD, unless we really are being invaded, in which case I am ready to serve our new alien masters.:zzz:

Herr-Berbunch

12-01-10, 07:59 AM

...and here I am thinking that they would just stand at the podium and say "Sorry guys, we are all out of money. We are turning SETI off."

But finding little green men would be cool too.

Close, it'll be something like - "You were going to cut our funding, but look what we've JUST found, we must invest further!" - call me cynical :yep:

Sailor Steve

12-01-10, 03:03 PM

You're cynical.

You may also be right.

But hey, you told me too.
:rotfl2:

Skybird

12-01-10, 03:17 PM

Before NASA goes out there searching for intelligent life in space, wouldn't it be the more natural thing to do to try to find intelligent life on planet Earth?

Sailor Steve

12-01-10, 03:40 PM

Why? We already know there isn't any.

Oberon

12-01-10, 04:16 PM

Before NASA goes out there searching for intelligent life in space, wouldn't it be the more natural thing to do to try to find intelligent life on planet Earth?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44DlSj6bnn4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2JU4gX6rg8)

Dowly

12-01-10, 08:13 PM

It's The Sun so, better check the press conference tomorrow just in case. :O:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3253913/NASA-researchers-find-life-in-poisonous-arsenic-lake-in-USA.html

Madox58

12-01-10, 08:30 PM

Before NASA goes out there searching for intelligent life in space, wouldn't it be the more natural thing to do to try to find intelligent life on planet Earth?

Why do you think Jesus was born where he was?
God couldn't find 3 Wise Men anywhere else.
And we all know that gets worse everyday!

Spike88

12-02-10, 01:33 AM

http://alsolikelife.com/shooting/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/starship_troopers_large_05.jpg

I love that movie.

Dowly

12-02-10, 06:30 AM

I love that movie.

Me too. :up:

Oberon

12-02-10, 08:23 AM

I...erm...really should watch it... :oops:

The drop looks cool from what I've seen on the tube though. :yeah:

Skybird

12-02-10, 08:43 AM

That movie is a full broadside of biting sarcasm against soap operas and the gun-ho attitude of certain people in the West that it is not really surprising that it flopped in the movies in North America. They felt targetted by it, and right so they did. But it is a good movie, I liked it - if for no other reason than its vitriolic humour. :D

Many people in Europe also totally misunderstood it, and thought it to be a hailing of fascism and militarism. They completely missed that it is exactly the opposite, wrapped and hidden in sheer sarcasm and exaggeration . :haha:

Dowly

12-02-10, 09:01 AM

Many people in Europe also totally misunderstood it, and thought it to be a hailing of fascism and militarism. They completely missed that it is exactly the opposite, wrapped and hidden in sheer sarcasm and exaggeration . :haha:

This. :yep:

frau kaleun

12-02-10, 12:31 PM

Take it for what it's worth:

http://gizmodo.com/5704158/nasa-finds-new-life

Hours before their special news conference today, the cat is out of the bag: NASA has discovered a completely new life form that doesn't share the biological building blocks of anything currently living in planet Earth. This changes everything.

At their conference today (http://gizmodo.com/5702124/did-nasa-discover-life-on-one-of-saturns-moons), NASA scientist Felisa Wolfe Simon will announce that they have found a bacteria whose DNA is completely alien to what we know today. Instead of using phosphorus, the bacteria uses arsenic. All life on Earth is made of six components: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur. Every being, from the smallest amoeba to the largest whale, share the same life stream. Our DNA blocks are all the same.

But not this one. This one is completely different. Discovered in the poisonous Mono Lake, California, this bacteria is made of arsenic, something that was thought to be completely impossible. While she and other scientists theorized that this could be possible, this is the first discovery. The implications of this discovery are enormous to our understanding of life itself and the possibility of finding beings in other planets that don't have to be like planet Earth.

Tchocky

12-02-10, 12:55 PM

Mono Lake! I love that place :)

Still think there's a SAVE MONOLAKE bumper sticker on my trumpet case :DL

TLAM Strike

12-02-10, 01:18 PM

I...erm...really should watch it... :oops:

The drop looks cool from what I've seen on the tube though. :yeah:

Then read the book. Its lightyears superior to the movie.

In fact the "real" Starship troops movie is "Aliens" in my opinion. That film has far more in common with the book than that movie.

Oberon

12-02-10, 01:52 PM

I'll say it before anyone else does.

"It's life Jim, but not as we know it."

It's a helluva jump and will definitely affect how NASA looks for life on planets, but it's something that many sci-fi writers and readers have considered likely for years. Quite frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if lifeforms existed in gas giants and the like, but it could be a while before we figure it all out.

Oberon

12-02-10, 02:04 PM

Yup, Frau, that's what it's about. :yep:

Diopos

12-02-10, 02:12 PM

Ok! Arsenic can replace Phosphorous. Another candidate is Silica replacing Carbon. Let me see ... The Alliens are semiconducting silicon chips!

:hmmm:

.

Oberon

12-02-10, 02:43 PM

http://www.trekp.com/posters/gw082-tholian.jpg

TLAM Strike

12-02-10, 02:58 PM

Ok! Arsenic can replace Phosphorous. Another candidate is Silica replacing Carbon. Let me see ... The Alliens are semiconducting silicon chips!

:hmmm:

.

Right on the money...

read about 2 pages down, the except from The Lost Worlds of 2001 (http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/aliens.php#Ain%27t_Gonna_Look_Like_Mr._Spock)

Growler

12-02-10, 04:30 PM

Wait... there's a new life form on this very planet, one that is entirely counter to everything we thought we knew about biology, and it hasn't been weaponized or nuked yet? :hmmm:

I can say this, honestly: Carl Sagan would totally have LOVED this.

TLAM Strike

12-02-10, 04:39 PM

Wait... there's a new life form on this very planet, one that is entirely counter to everything we thought we knew about biology, and it hasn't been weaponized or nuked yet? :hmmm:

I heard this company is interested in them for their Bio-Weapons Division...
http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/4846/weylandyutanishirtlg.gif

Growler

12-02-10, 04:42 PM

I heard this company is interested in them for their Bio-Weapons Division...
http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/4846/weylandyutanishirtlg.gif

In that case, i say we take off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

darius359au

12-02-10, 05:16 PM

I keep thinking of the Star trek line "It's life Jim ,but not as we know it":D
Ok so this changes the goal posts for extraterrestrial life ,if arsenic can replace phosphorous then the rest of the building blocks can probably be changed as well - Look's like the old golden age scifi writers with the really weird alien life forms may have been close to the mark :03:

TLAM Strike

12-02-10, 05:24 PM

I keep thinking of the Star trek line "It's life Jim ,but not as we know it":D

Oberon beat you to it... :O:

darius359au

12-02-10, 05:37 PM

Oberon beat you to it... :O:

Bugger...

Madox58

12-02-10, 06:37 PM

I'd be more interested in the comments from the Life Form in question.

"Jed, the Ugly Bags of mostly Water are back."

"Ignore them Saddie. You know they're missing Arsenic and everyone knows only intellegent life forms have Arsenic."

"But Jed, how do we know they're not intellegent?"

"Saddie, They didn't know we could exist! How smart can they be?"

darius359au

12-02-10, 07:21 PM

:har:

razark

12-02-10, 08:51 PM

Oberon beat you to it... :O:
I lost count of the number of times someone said "not as we know it" or some close variation during the conference.

DarkFish

12-03-10, 09:14 AM

http://www.toosenhenk.nl/images/zoom/HZPMFE/viewsize/WWW311.jpg
Translation:
Discovery: Bacterium able to survive arsenic

Nothing new, my mother-in-law has done so for years...

Penguin

12-03-10, 01:08 PM

It never ceases to amaze me what life forms there are to discover on the good ole Earth.

Also I am glad that nobody drained the lake so far where the bacteria was found and built a strip mall on it... :up:

TLAM Strike

12-03-10, 01:11 PM

Now are they sure this life form originated on Earth?

Its so different from all other life that maybe its not from here.

... just saying... :hmmm:

GoldenRivet

12-03-10, 01:12 PM

exactly.

Probably going to release some new hypothesis that our search for biological organisms in the universe has been too focused, and needs to adapt to expanding and changing theories on what environments can support life.

One scenario is that they managed to get some sort of small plant organism to conduct photosynthesis using arsenic in place of the usual life sustaining compounds as we know them.

based on this, they will probably have the titan and mars groups give speeches about how mars contains certain elements that could behave similarly in those environments thereby creating organic compounds even if non-earthlike conditions exist.

thats what my money is on

by the way...

CALLED IT :D

Penguin

12-03-10, 01:27 PM

Now are they sure this life form originated on Earth?

Its so different from all other life that maybe its not from here.

... just saying... :hmmm:

well, ok the possibility is there.

I honestly don't think that anything would change when we would find alien life. It was the same when nations discovered other lands/continents where other people live. No big attitude changes happened.

While I am a big science nut, and very interested in the exploration of space, my point is that there is so much more to discover here which gets much fewer funding.
Or as the unknown Vietnam war participent said when Neil Armstrong spoke his famous words: "I wish this ****er would be down here"

@GR: credits to you! (Of course I am a lefty and so can't admit that someone is better than others, so I cannot send you the case of beer like I inrtended to - haha, jfwy :salute:!)

GoldenRivet

12-03-10, 01:28 PM

Of course I am a lefty

we need a few of those around :salute:

razark

12-03-10, 02:00 PM

Now are they sure this life form originated on Earth?

Its so different from all other life that maybe its not from here.

... just saying... :hmmm:
I wasn't paying complete attention to it, but I believe what they had was bacteria they obtained from the lake. They removed it to their lab, where they grew it, but instead of giving it phosphorus, they gave it extra arsenic. The bacteria took in the arsenic and used it where it would have used phosphorus in its DNA.

So, it's really not all that different, it's only a proof of concept that life doesn't need everything we used to think it needed. Not as earth-shattering as "We found life off of earth" or even "we found life on earth completely unrelated to what we knew". But still an important discovery.

Takeda Shingen

12-03-10, 02:06 PM

It doesn't sound too different than the type of bacteria and organisms that we find around the toxic sea vents on the ocean floor.

Penguin

12-03-10, 02:17 PM

The sea-vent-bacteria hinted us in the direction that organisms don't need photosynthesis to substain life. This new dioscovery is another step, so biology now has to say goodbye to some old concepts about the decription of life.
I am no biologist, but I think to this science it means the same as the discovery of quantum mechanics meant to the newtonian physics: an overhaul (not dismissal!) of the old theories.

Diopos

12-03-10, 03:22 PM

I think the industrialist's lobby in D.C. will have a new "theme":

"Deregulate" pollutant limits so we can freely "mutate" into the future!

Survival of the fittest (mutant)!

Toxic is not bad. It is just different.

Don't mitigate pollution. You are destroying a unique ecosystems.

:o

.

Wolfehunter

12-03-10, 05:36 PM

Madox58

12-03-10, 07:09 PM

If it's on Earth and started here?
It's not an Alien Life Form.

Did Scientists discover this?
OK, sure. But Fiction Writers said this kind of stuff a long time ago.
Jules Verne started Fiction about stuff we take for granted today.
Does he get a Noble Prize for his advanced theories?

Yes it's interesting but I wonder how much money was spent to
prove what Science Fiction writers have been saying for years.
And how much of Tax Payers money was involved?

If the so called Scientists have only been looking for life as 'They' know it?
They'll be disappointed.
The Gov's don't send money to other Worlds YET.

Platapus

12-03-10, 11:30 PM

But Fiction Writers said this kind of stuff a long time ago.
Yes it's interesting but I wonder how much money was spent to
prove what Science Fiction writers have been saying for years.
And how much of Tax Payers money was involved?

Are you actually advocating that we presume what fiction authors write should be taken as fact? :nope:

One of the purposes of science is to attempt to confirm or refute what "people have been saying for years" :yep:

Skybird

12-14-10, 05:45 PM

Over the past days, I repeatedly read about biologists voicing increasing criticism of the NASA study, accusing the authors of methodological flaws, sometimes even dilletantism. The criticsim first came from British, Canadian and German scientists, but then from Russia, other European countries and finally all the world, it seems. It seems the autzhors, and NASA, are under fire.

If I understood it correctly, this Blog entry by micro-biologist Rosie Redfield from the university of British Columbia in Vancouver was the first salvo against the NASA study.

http://rrresearch.blogspot.com/2010/12/arsenic-associated-bacteria-nasas.html

I'm surprised that it gets relatively little coverage. But maybe I just miss the show.

I don't know whether the authors are just bad scientists or whether they're unscrupulously pushing NASA's 'There's life in outer space!' agenda. I hesitate to blame the reviewers, as their objections are likely to have been overruled by Science's editors in their eagerness to score such a high-impact publication.

Again: the author is an internationally known micro-biologist herself.