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Curious NASA Pre-Announcement

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the phone-gnome dept.

CrtxReavr was one of a small avalanche of readers to let us know about a press conference NASA scheduled for Thursday at 2pm to discuss an "astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life." I've heard rumors ranging from "proof of life on Titan" to "first contact," depending on how optimistic/crazy you are.

2 of 286 comments (clear)

  1. Maybe Titan...Maybe Earth's Shadow Biosphere. by tetrahedrassface · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Some word out on the web, including NASA funded astrobiology teams (there are fourteen), seem to indicate the possibility of them finding something strange here on Mother Earth, probably something in or around Mono Lake according to some people and its arsenic based life forms. Since the major announcement last June by NASA concerning 'Titan and the Case of the Missing Hydrogen'. In fact one of the ladies on the panel this Thursday is in fact the researcher who is studying possible arsenic based life forms in Mono Lake. I'd say that she found something. One thing for certain, with the embargo we won't know for sure until Thursday. :)

  2. A few clues.... by TomRC · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If you look at the list of participants, it may provide a clue:

    Participants are:
    - Mary Voytek, director, Astrobiology Program, NASA Headquarters, Washington
    - Felisa Wolfe-Simon, NASA astrobiology research fellow, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, Calif.
    - Pamela Conrad, astrobiologist, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
    - Steven Benner, distinguished fellow, Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution, Gainesville, Fla.
    - James Elser, professor, Arizona State University, Tempe

    If you follow up the connection of James Elser to NASA, it turns out to be a project called "Follow the Elements"

    http://astrobiology.asu.edu/Astrobiology/Home/Home.html

    So I'm guessing that they've found certain exo-planets in the Goldilocks zone that have the right balance of precursor elements/molecules for life.