Hasta La Gadget!

You know this week’s to-do about the discovery of extra terrestrial that was supposed to be announced at today’s press conference? Well, after a build up, disappointment was really inevitable, right?

NASA sent out a note to the press yesterday announcing that it would,

[H]old a news conference at 11 a.m. PST on Thursday, Dec. 2, to discuss an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life. Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe.

Naturally, the press ran with it, declaring that the organization had finally discovered alien life. The real announcement, however, was decidedly less sexy than that. The organization was actually referring to life right here on earth.

Scientists managed to “train” bacteria from California’s alkaline Mono Lake to subsist on arsenic, eventually trading its phosphorus atoms for that material. So, how does this relate to, you know, space?

Says astronomer Dimitar Sasselov of the discovery,

There is basic mystery, when you look at life. Nature only uses a restrictive set of molecules and chemical reactions out of many thousands available. This is our first glimmer that maybe there are other options.

Options like delicious arsenic, apparently. 

Tutorial guides Kinect hackers into iRobot territory originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Dec 2010 15:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Little fingers can dish out big pain for gadgets, and unless your little one is beefy enough to lug around a Toughbook you’ll be wanting something small and durable for them. Enter the $449 PeeWee Power 2.0, the latest revision to the company’s series of kid-friendly computers. This netbook is said to survive drops with aplomb, but only has a “water resistant” keyboard, so don’t toss those sippy cups just yet. It also comes loaded with security software to hopefully keep your kids from finding the worst the ‘net has to offer, but with only a 1.6GHz N270 Atom processor on tap, 1GB of RAM, and a mere 30GB of HDD storage, we’re guessing it could also be a good tool to teach them all about patience.

Continue reading PeeWee PC netbook moves to 2.0, rated to take the worst your tot can deliver

PeeWee PC netbook moves to 2.0, rated to take the worst your tot can deliver originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Dec 2010 14:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you were hoping NASA was going to announce the very first tweet from an extraterrestrial being, sorry to break your heart — it is astrobiological, but the findings are actually borne of this rock. Researchers in Mono Lake, California, have discovered a microorganism (pictured) that uses arsenic instead of phosphorous to thrive and reproduce. The latter, as far as terrestrial life is concerned, is a building block of life along with carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur, all integral to our DNA and RNA. Arsenic, meanwhile, is generally considered poisonous — but “chemically it behaves similarly to phosphate,” apparently making for a good substitution. In other words, NASA’s proven that life can be made with components different than our current assumptions, both locally and beyond the stars. Seems entirely logical, if you ask us. (A silicon-based Horta, Mr. Spock?)

So, what about other atypical life-forming chemicals? NASA isn’t speculating. That sound you hear is a thousand light bulbs popping up as science fiction writers everywhere conjure up brand new super villains — and a thousand Chemistry professors writing new extra credit questions for their fall semester finals.

NASA reveals arsenic-bred organisms, search for life gets broader parameters originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Dec 2010 14:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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