Here’s a post from DNA researcher Rosie Redfield critically analyzing the paper that was released in Science and announced by NASA on Thursday regarding aresenic-tolerant bacteria in Mono Lake. I haven’t read the paper myself (I don’t have a Science subscription) and have been relying on news reports, but reading the review certainly casts doubt on the significance of these results. I suppose that we’ll have to wait for Science to publish her letter and for the authors to respond.
Hat tip: John Hawks
Update
Razib Khan points to two more posts discussing the topic, which I’ll pass along. The first is a post by Alex Bradley which echos some of the concerns of Dr. Redfield and adds some insight of his own. The second is a critique of the media response to this story done by David Dobbs. Both are good reads that explain the situation nicely.
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