NASA Finds Alien Life in California. No, They Weren't Just Talking About the People Who Run the State.

Jillian Bandes | December 02, 2010 4:40 PM

Ok, it's not quite alien life -- and it has nothing to do with the people who live there -- but NASA's latest ~~PR stunt~~ scientific discovery is pretty awesome. The agency proved that there can be life without the six elements that scientists thought were required for life to exist. This new "life" survives on arsenic instead of phosphorous, one of the six previously required elements.

Now, scientists are clamoring about "shadow biosphere" that allows for life outside the traditional channels of evolution. Does this lend even more credence to the creationist argument? WaPo:

"Our findings are a reminder that life-as-we-know-it could be much more flexible than we generally assume or can imagine," said Felisa Wolfe-Simon, the young biochemist who led the effort after being selected as a NASA Astrobiology Research Fellow and as a member of the National Astrobiology Institute team at Arizona State University.
"If something here on Earth can do something so unexpected - that breaks the unity of biochemistry - what else can life do that we haven't seen yet?"