New Studies Refute Report of Arsenic-Loving Bacteria

New Studies Refute Report of Arsenic-Loving Bacteria

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It was a provocative finding: strange bacteria in a California lake that thrived on something completely unexpected — arsenic. What it suggested is that life, a very different kind of life, could possibly exist on some other planet. The research, published by a leading scientific journal in 2010, led to overheated speculation about how life might exist elsewhere — and quickly some dissent about the original finding. Now, that same journal, Science, released two papers that rip apart the original research. They “clearly show” that the bacteria can’t use arsenic as the researchers claimed, said an accompanying statement from the journal.