This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
Over the past year or so I have been diligently collecting all the links related to the (in)famous #arseniclife affair at my old blog. Links are, especially later in the process, more or less in the chronological order. I guess it will be easier for me to update, and easier for people to find it, if I re-post it here:
Mono Lake bacteria build their DNA using arsenic (and no, this isn’t about aliens) and Science gets it (mostly) wrong again: My take on the NASA astrobiology paper and Lots of Ink for a few extremophiles: We’ve been invaded by aliens, Monolakians, from the Duncecap Galaxy and When life gives you arsenic, make arsenate-backboned DNA, non-alien Halomonadaceae!
Preliminary Thoughts on the “Arsenic-Based Life” Paper and Ordinary evidence would do
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The Real Scoop on Aliens Oops Arsenic in Old Lakes and Bacteria Use Arsenic As Basic Building Block In A Pinch and Poison Nil: Mono Lake Bacterium Exhibits Exotic Arsenic-Driven Biological Activity and Arsenic and Odd Lace and It's not an arsenic-based life form.
Arsenic and Old Lakes: NASA Finds Life NOT As We Know It and Arsenic-Eating Bacteria Expands Definition of Life and It Came From Mono Lake and Complete heresy: life based on arsenic instead of phosphorus and Bacteria eat arsenic – and survive!
Arsenic-associated bacteria (NASA's claims) and Arsenic-permissive bacteria – implications for arsenical cancer chemotherapy and Are there viruses of arsenic-utilizing bacteria? and The 'Give Me a Job' Microbe
Of Arsenic and Aliens and NASA’s real news: bacterium on Earth that lives off arsenic! and Close Encounters of the Media Kind and A Life Less Ordinary and Life With Arsenic: Who'd Have Thought? and Medicine! Poison! Arsenic! Life itself!
Why “alien” life, aka arsenic-loving bacteria, embargo fiasco was deja vu for Sun Spaceman Paul Sutherland and Did you know you could have bet on the NASA arsenic-based bacteria find? and On science blogs this week: Alien abductions and Nasa dismisses criticism of 'arsenic bacteria' research
Arsenic-Eating Bacteria May Not Redefine Life, But Could They Be Useful in Oil Spill Cleanup? and A new life form? Not so fast and Arsenic and Old Lace and Arsenic-Based Life
The Wrong Stuff: NASA Dismisses Arsenic Critique Because Critical Priest Not Standing on Altar and NASA: science shouldn’t be debated in media and blogs?! and Not getting it and "This Paper Should Not Have Been Published": Scientists see fatal flaws in the NASA study of arsenic-based life.
Unquestioning dogma: the gatekeepers of science and Death for "Arsenic-Based Life"? and My summary of NASA's arsenic-thriving bacteria story and Arsenic and Bacteria: "nothing in that paper is going into my biochemistry textbook" and Why was #PLoS ONE blamed for the media hype about the Darwinius and Red Sea papers, but when it comes to the latest overblown #Science paper, it is #NASA that's blamed for the hype? (same applies to Venter's synthetic life: Venter gets the blame not Science) and Heavy Metal
And the skeptics keep chiming in…George Cody on arsenic life and NASA discovers life on Earth and Extraordinary claims attract extraordinary blogging and The Value of Blogs and Ordinary evidence would do
[guest post: Alex Bradley, PhD] Arsenate-based DNA: a big idea with big holes and On how science happens - Case Study: NASA, Arsenic, and Controversy and Is That Arsenic-Loving Bug — Formerly an Alien — a Dog?
Hat die NASA Aliens gefunden? (natürlich nicht) and Die Arsen-Bakterien: Doch ein lohnendes Forschungsobjekt? and Science Is Sexy: Why Do NASA’s New Arsenic Bacteria Matter? and NASA's arsenic microbe science slammed and Inside scoop from the NASA man who was way ahead of the rest of NASA on those Mono microbes with arsenic in their genes.
NASA's new life form: Underwhelming? and Did NASA really find new life? and NASA's Arsenic-Eating "Alien" Bacteria Is More Like Science-Fiction and Was NASA's big announcement a big mistake? and NASA's Arsenic-Loving Bacteria Don't Love Arsenic After All, Critics Say.
An arsenic bacteria postmortem: NASA responds, tries to pit blogs vs. “credible media organizations” and The Right Place for Scientific Debate?: Scientists snub media as controversy over arsenic-eating microbes rolls on and Hey, NASA: this is what peer review actually looks like.
The dubious arsenic bacterium and Life on Arsenic? and NASA arsenic story - let's lay off the personal attacks on all sides and Scientific dissention: shouldn’t we all be nice? and Arsenic about face and My Letter to Science and DNA, Phosphorus, and Arsenic and NASA can’t have it both ways.
Wolfe-Simon et al Comment: 08 December 2010 and Scientists: NASA's claim of microbe that can live on arsenic is 'flawed' and Did NASA follow its own code of conduct in announcing the arsenic bacteria study? (Hint: No) and Post-publication peer review in public: poison or progress?
Of arsenic and aliens: What the critics said and Falsehoods associated with the arsenic-thriving bacteria story: What it is and what it isn't and Critics raise doubts on NASA's arsenic bacteria and Three Tales of Arsenic Tolerant Bacteria
Robert Sheldon, ID proponent, defending the arsenic bacteria paper? Oh dear God. and Arsenic Bacteria Breed Backlash and Don't Like Arsenic Bacteria? Put Your Experiment Where Your Mouth Is! and GFAJ-1: Get Fighting And Jousting! and Albert Eschenmoser and I Had Arsenic for Lunch
Arsenic bacteria – a post-mortem, a review, and some navel-gazing and Of Arsenic, Slime Molds, and Life on Other Worlds and On science blogs this week: Arsenic bugging and Science Weekly: The arsenic bacterium that could help find life in outer space
Aliens, arsenic and alternative peer-review: Has science publishing become too conservative? and Arsenic up for Review and Arsenate redux and No-one cuts deeper than a Science Blogger. and Your daily dose of arsenic: On the Madeleine Brand Show on KPCC
The Agency That Cried “Awesome!” and Arsenic and Primordial Ooze: A History Lesson and Poisoned Debate Encircles a Microbe Study’s Result and How to harness distributed discussion of research papers and Molecular evolution of an arsenate detoxification pathway by DNA shuffling
Science Weekly: The great arsenic bacteria backlash and Good Science or good publicity? and Arsenic And Peer Review and Communication - it's not just for cells and MEDIA ADVISORY: M10-167 and Ambitions of an Early Career Scientist? and Scientific knowledge - getting closer to the right answer
Where can we find arsenic in a DNA structure? and Not Exactly Rocket Science etc -The Great Monolakian Arsenic Issue and its quick rise to fame and flame and The Arsenic Chronicles and In Search of Life: SETI has come a long way over the years, but is the search really important? and Just to be clear: Ed Yong does read the primary literature
Calling Dr. Kane and A new kind of life? and Response required and More on Arsenic Bugs - Nature responds to the blogosphere
The arsenic post I never wrote and What Alien Bacteria Can Teach Us About Health PR and Response to Questions Concerning the Science Article, A Bacterium That Can Grow by Using Arsenic Instead of Phosphorous (PDF) and Real science – warts and all
Arsenic bacteria study authors respond to critics and Using the ‘arsenic bacteria’ story as a teaching moment for undergraduates
A Funny Arsenic Smell Upstream — What questions is it fair to ask about squishy science? and Comments on Dr. Wolfe-Simon's Response and Yet another reason why the Wolfe-Simon conclusion is so improbable and Arsenic and Old Wounds
Scientists and the News Media: Arsenic-Based Life Forms a Case Study? and Arsenic Bacteria 4: The Quest for Peace and Confused about Arsenic
Exclusive Interview: Discoverer of Arsenic Bacteria, in the Eye of the Storm and #ArsenicLife #Fail: A teachable moment and Response to the critics.
Phosphorus beats arsenic...by a factor of seventeen powers of ten and An arsenic-laced bad-news letter: Who is the audience for online post-publication peer review?
Added four months later:
Arsenic life, four months later: pay no attention to the internet and Arsenic life, four months (and a bit) later: Reviewers with shovels and Comment posted on Rosen paper and Response from Drs. McDermott and Rosen about their arsenic paper and Arsenic Author Dumps Peer Review, Takes Case to TED and Felisa Wolfe-Simon (of arsenic infamy) is no more convincing in person than in print
And another couple of months later:
Science Publishes “Arsenic is Life” Critiques. Game On., Arsenic, RNA, and the unpleasant aftertaste of hype, The Discovery of Arsenic-Based Twitter, “The Center of Gravity Has Shifted.” Carl Zimmer on the Arsenic Paper, Critics weigh in on arsenic life.
Arseniclife: The formal critiques and the authors' responses, Wolfe-Simon et al.'s responses to my comments, How to test the arsenic-DNA claims, How might a bacterium evolve to use arsenic in place of phosphorus?.
Arsenic-based bacteria: Fact or fiction?, Critics take aim at NASA 'arsenic life' study, Debate over arsenic-based life enters a new chapter, Science Publishes Multiple Critiques of Arsenic Bacterium Paper
#arseniclife, peer review, and the scientific process, High Impact Science in a Hyperactive Media Environment, Arsenic life – more criticism, formally published, Post publication peer review – a new way of doing science?.
Were my original #arseniclife criticisms overly personal?, Examples of good astrobiology please, Further panning of the arsenic life claims, Minding the As and P: Can Arsenic Substitute for Phosphorus or Not?.
What the Coburn report has in common with arsenic life, Finding the truth is a waste of time, scientists say, Does Arsenic Really Exist in the DNA from GFAJ-1?, The Arsenic Paper is out, along with eight critiques.
Return of the Arsenic Bacterium, Felisa Wolfe-Simon Does NOT Get It, Arsenic-based life debate continues, Follow arsenic life science “live”.
From the shadows to the spotlight to the dustbin - the rise and fall of GFAJ-1, Arsenic bacteria have changed science...science education that is.
Just in case I do decide to test the #arseniclife ..., Working safely with arsenic (what I'd need to know), Guest post about #arseniclife, Starting to work with GFAJ-1!, They're here!, Counting the GFAJ-1 cells, Vitamins are for wusses (#arseniclife), Why would GFAJ-1 grow much better on agar than in liquid?, Maybe it's the water? Or the tubes?
It's not the water, nor the tubes, nor the parafilm..., No excuses... , More detailed plans, GFAJ-1 (no real progress to report), Life and death of GFAJ-1.... and many more posts detailing the process of replicating the research.
Scientist in a Strange Land and Arsenic is Life and the View From Nowhere and #ArsenicLife Goes Longform, And History Gets Squished and Tom Clynes on arsenic life.