VATICAN CITY (CNS) The discovery of the first known microorganism on Earth to thrive on the toxic chemical arsenic will help expand scientists’ understanding of the definition of life, said the head of the Vatican Observatory. "It’s clear that if we are searching for life forms in the universe, we have to at least know what to look for: that is, to define what a living being is," said Jesuit Father Jose Funes.
The recent discovery of a life form based on a completely different chemistry "will surely contribute to expanding our conceptual horizons on the subject" of what could be life and living matter, he said in an article in the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, Dec. 4.
A team of astrobiology researchers — funded by NASA — recently discovered a microbe strain, called GFAJ-1, in California’s Mono Lake, which has unusually high levels of salinity, alkalinity and arsenic.
"Carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur are the six basic building blocks of all known forms of life on Earth," a NASA press release said Dec. 2.
However, GFAJ-1 is able to thrive and reproduce using arsenic since it substitutes the toxic chemical for phosphorus in its cell components, the press release said.
Father Funes wrote, "In short, it’s a microbe that breathes arsenic."
"The study of planets with atmospheres outside the solar system reintroduces the question of the possibility of life in the universe," wrote the Jesuit astronomer.
Another series of discoveries recently published in Nature magazine also have interesting consequences on science’s understanding of the universe, wrote Father Funes.
Researchers have determined that there may be triple the number of stars, bringing the estimated total to 300 sextillion, or 300 followed by 21 zeroes.
The new tally comes after scientists discovered there are more red dwarf stars than previously calculated, particularly in elliptical galaxies.
Father Funes wrote that the greater number of stars in the universe might mean "the proportion of dark matter in the galaxies" is less than previously estimated.
A greater number of stars also "very probably" would increase the number of planets "and with this, increases the probability of life in the universe," he wrote.
However, he wrote, scientists may never know because the galaxies under question are too far away — making observation of the individual stars within them too difficult.
"Not even the wildest fantasies of the writers of Star Trek and Star Wars imagined the possibility of exploring other galaxies," he wrote.