NASA discovers Glycine in comet

Just spotted this article on my daily browse through science blogs. This is rather remarkable.
 
"Glycine is an amino acid used by living organisms to make proteins, and this is the first time an amino acid has been found in a comet ," said Dr. Jamie Elsila of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Our discovery supports the theory that some of life's ingredients formed in space and were delivered to Earth long ago by meteorites and comet impacts."
 
 "The discovery of glycine in a comet supports the idea that the fundamental building blocks of life are prevalent in space, and strengthens the argument that life in the universe may be common rather than rare," said Dr. Carl Pilcher, Director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute which co-funded the research.
 
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The space zombies are almost here

I like this sort of news.
 
Also, mmm...amino acids.

This is brilliant and incredible, yet humbling.
 
I'm very much ready to start some interplanetary capitalism.

Awesome stuff, It only makes sense that some of the ingredients for life come from space, but where did those start from? Its all very interesting.  They also believe most if not all of the water on earth came from space way back when.
 
Of course, its much easier to say God did it =P

" Of course, its much easier to say God did it =P "

Awesome stuff.

Nice. :O

Wow that's pretty awesome...

A dead mosquito has all of the building blocks for life, and yet it's not alive... Cool discovery. Pointless, but cool.

" @Xeiphyer said:

" Of course, its much easier to say God did it =P "

Let's not go there >_>...  Awesome news though, NASA never ceases to impress me. "

" @Black_Rose said:

" @Xeiphyer said:

" Of course, its much easier to say God did it =P "

Let's not go there >_>...  Awesome news though, NASA never ceases to impress me. "

I agree haha. NASA Does impress, but man, the amount of funding they get is insane! Atleast we get cool spinoff research and inventions like comfy space beds and TANG (The drink of course, although I'm sure they hand their hand in TANG as well.) "

I hate to say it but being a serious astronomer myself, hearing people who know little more than the planets in our solar system make me wretch.
 
yes i know i'm elitist sue me,.
 
But when someone calls this discovery "pointless" i want to just puke...
 
There have been alot more pointless things humans have spent more money and more time on in our history.

" I hate to say it but being a serious astronomer myself, hearing people who know little more than the planets in our solar system make me wretch.  yes i know i'm elitist sue me,. But when someone calls this discovery "pointless" i want to just puke...  There have been alot more pointless things humans have spent more money and more time on in our history. "

" @Xeiphyer said:

" @Black_Rose said:

" @Xeiphyer said:

" Of course, its much easier to say God did it =P "

Let's not go there >_>...  Awesome news though, NASA never ceases to impress me. "

I agree haha. NASA Does impress, but man, the amount of funding they get is insane! Atleast we get cool spinoff research and inventions like comfy space beds and TANG (The drink of course, although I'm sure they hand their hand in TANG as well.) "

Actually they don't get nearly enough funding. The US government doesn't even give them enough funds to track all of the asteroids which are a possible threat to earth. "

Whenever I hear Glycine I think Jurassic Park.

" This is brilliant and incredible, yet humbling.  I'm very much ready to start some interplanetary capitalism. "

But like I said, they are giving them money to take men to the moon again, for... what purpose exactly?
 
This is where my cognitive dissidence (or is it dissonance? I always get 'em mixed up... but I think both work) comes in.

" @RsistncE said:

" @Xeiphyer said:

" @Black_Rose said:

" @Xeiphyer said:

" Of course, its much easier to say God did it =P "

Let's not go there >_>...  Awesome news though, NASA never ceases to impress me. "

I agree haha. NASA Does impress, but man, the amount of funding they get is insane! Atleast we get cool spinoff research and inventions like comfy space beds and TANG (The drink of course, although I'm sure they hand their hand in TANG as well.) "

Actually they don't get nearly enough funding. The US government doesn't even give them enough funds to track all of the asteroids which are a possible threat to earth. "

But they give them enough funding to make another manned mission to the moon?  NASA's funding, like all other government programs are based on political necessity more than scientific necessity.   However, that's not to say that the people who work for NASA aren't making important discoveries and contributions.  Anyways, it's kind of unrealistic to expect them to be able to track all the objects in space that are on a possible collision course with earth, since that number inevitably expands with further probing of space. "

" @Xeiphyer said:

" @Black_Rose said:

" @Xeiphyer said:

" Of course, its much easier to say God did it =P "

Let's not go there >_>...  Awesome news though, NASA never ceases to impress me. "

I agree haha. NASA Does impress, but man, the amount of funding they get is insane! Atleast we get cool spinoff research and inventions like comfy space beds and TANG (The drink of course, although I'm sure they hand their hand in TANG as well.) "

Actually they don't get nearly enough funding. The US government doesn't even give them enough funds to track all of the asteroids which are a possible threat to earth. "

" But like I said, they are giving them money to take men to the moon again, for... what purpose exactly?  This is where my cognitive dissidence (or is it dissonance? I always get 'em mixed up... but I think both work) comes in. "

"We found some meat on a comet! There's civilisation out there! Huzzah!"
 
That's what came to my head when I read this. Seriously, that's great news. Whether it's a bit of bacteria or some super sentient beings it's always nice to know there's some life out there.

" The space zombies are almost here "

They havent even discovered life yet and they're debating whether its common or rare. Geez, act like a scientist for a second, this isnt theology.

I love this sort of news. It's incredibly interesting to think of all the possabilities of what can or has happened in our universe.

The idea that life on Earth began when a comet containing the building blocks of life struck the face of the planet isn't a new one. 
Did Comets Contain Key Ingredients For Life On Earth?  - Science Daily
Evidence Of Liquid Water In Comets Reveals Possible Origin Of Life - Selected Science News
Pre-life Molecules Present In Comets - Innovations Reports
How comets may have 'seeded' life on Earth - Evolution Diary
 
I think it's an interesting theory, but I can't give it much more validity than any other theory at this time.

thats kick ass news,  i think its about 100% well find some kind of living thing somewhere...shit its on earth!  lol nice post.

Aliens!

Sweet, so when the fuck do we get off this rock and into space?

cool, i kind of think there is already life somewhere in space. there are people just like us who are saying the same thing.

" @Jared: NEVER let it be said that I am opposed to humans exploring the previously unexplored, seeking to understand the mysterious. This is a major part of what makes man what he is.  I'm just saying that if there is value to be had in space, the best thing to do is to privatize space exploration.  I think the men and women who work at NASA is so important and so valuable, that if we had free markets, there would not be a funding shortage. (As for meteor detection, there probably are good reasons to give the government the responsibility of funding it.  Having said that, I don't think the U.S. Federal government should just overnight privatize NASA. I think that like every other political process, the expansion of individual rights into the realm of space ought to be liberated gradually and prudently. "

" @Suicrat: Sorry, but that's an incredibly stupid idea. "

  @Snipzor: If you think that any economic activity that happened anywhere in the world in the last century happened in a free market, then you need to examine the nature of the last 100 years of politics.