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back to article NASA planning delicious Martian microbe menu

NASA's Ames Research Center may be synonymous with satellites and propulsion systems, but the agency is also involved in developing genetic organisms tailored to make the lives of astronauts – and maybe everyone else – a little easier. "One area I'm really excited about is synthetic biology," Dr. S. Pete Worden, the Center's …

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  1. Mikel
    Alien

    Different genes turned on in orbit

    That's just the genome reverting to interstellar conquest mode. It's by design. The terrestrial conquest genes re-express again in one generation, so on close approach we have to centrifuge the colonist host mothers. With careful conditioning and accelerated gestation they can survive to term.

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  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    JUST like

    The Spanish conquest of South America when everything from the common cold to small pox was introduced to the indigenous people decimating the population,

    Would we survive alien microbes on distant planets?

    We might one day venture out, make it to that distant planet, land on the planet and then be turned into a green Goo by microbes!

    Instead of 'one small step' it might be 'oh...shi..' and a strange blubbing noise in the background.

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  4. Fred Flintstone Gold badge

    It has to be said..

    "It's life, Jim, but not as we know it"..

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    1. LarsG
      Reply Icon
      Unhappy

      Re: It has to be said..

      Never be the guy without a name on Kirks away team. He's always the first to go!

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      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Duh

        Just be sure to pack plenty of yellow or blue shirts. Then you're fine.

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  5. Captain DaFt

    Tastes like steak?

    Obviously, anything new always tastes like chicken! (If it's edible)

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  6. RosieRedfield

    Pathogens in space

    The research claiming that some bacteria become more virulent in space is just another example of over-hyped NASA astrobiology research; see the RRResearch post here: http://rrresearch.fieldofscience.com/2011/04/do-bacteria-become-superbugs-in-space.html.

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  7. Yesnomaybe

    Aha!

    "... grow by extracting material from the surface of Mars or other planetary bodies"

    Like the Moon. We could finally start work on turning the moon into cheese.

    Huzzah!!

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