NASA Scientists Release Statement

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WASHINGTON (GaeaTimes.com)- It seems that the anticipation and speculation about the unique form of bacteria found by NASA scientists in California’s Mono Lake, is far from over. On December 2, the researchers created quite a buzz when they announced that they have come as a different form of microbe that thrives on arsenic after it is able to substitute the element for arsenic. The claims made by the NASA scientists attracted wide attention on the blogosphere while it also had to deal with extensive criticism from other scientists who expressed doubts about the authenticity of the claims. However, earlier this week, the researchers involved with the discovery released a statement in which many questions that were raised about the study have been answered.

The statement that has been released by Felisa Wolfe-Simon, the lead author of the study, reads that the questions that had been raised regarding the findings of the study mainly concentrated on whether the bacteria has stopped taking phosphorus and whether arsenic had indeed been incorporated by the microbe in its DNA. The statement that contains answers to the doubts raised by critics of the study has been made available in an online portal. The NASA researchers have reiterated that the statement has been issued as a public information service which would clarify the data used by them as well as the research procedures.

Since the NASA scientists made the announcement of the discovery of the new variety of microbe, it resulted in a huge controversy with critics claiming that the study deserved more screening experiments before the final conclusion was made public.