So It Looks Like NASA Probably Found Arsenic-Based Life

(Dec. 2) -- Hours before today's much-hyped NASA news conference in which many have speculated the space agency might be ready to announce the existence of extraterrestrial life, the news appears to have broken, and it's a little bit closer to home.

NASA appears to have found bacteria in California's Lake Mono that uses typically poisonous arsenic in its basic genetic structure. Scientists have previously theorized that arsenic-based life could exist, but this could be the first discovery of a creature with such a radically different chemistry from all other life on Earth.

"They're aliens, but aliens that share the same home as us," one astrobiologist told The Telegraph.

The supposed find raises the possibility that life could survive in environments previously thought hostile and will likely force researchers to reconsider notions of extraterrestrial life.

But while the reported discovery may be earth-shatteringly important to many in the scientific community, some of the laypeople who thought NASA might be trotting out a display of laser pistols developed in tandem with friendly (if misunderstood) little gray men with ovoid heads will likely be disappointed.

"Props to NASA for knowing how to gin up interest," one blogger writes at Geekosystem.com. "But it's a shame so much sanctioned crazy talk from mainstream outlets surfaces in the process."

But the geeks can still dream. As Moviefone.com puts it:

"Whatever they've discovered, let's hope James Cameron can let us look at it in 3-D."

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