Arsenic-loving bacteria may help in hunt for alien life

[dipsydoodle]

The first organism able to substitute one of the six chemical elements crucial to life has been found.

The bacterium, found in a California lake, uses the usually poisonous element arsenic in place of phosphorus.

The find, described in Science, gives weight to the long-standing idea that life on other planets may have a radically different chemical makeup.

It also has implications for the way life arose on Earth - and how many times it may have done so.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11886943

Not life as we know it - Jim. :)