Ask a Mac Expert: NASA’s newest discovery

NASA announced Thursday that researchers had found the first known microorganism
on Earth able to thrive and reproduce using the toxic chemical arsenic. The findings
have the potential to completely change the definition of life – previous to the
discovery, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorous and sulfur were thought
to be the building blocks for all known forms of life on Earth.

The research could also have an impact on the search for life beyond this planet.
According to Ralph Pudritz, astrophysicist and director of McMaster's Origins Institute,
the findings will expand the search for extraterrestrial life, since we now know of an
organism that can survive on arsenic.

Below, he talks about the findings and what they mean to the field of astrobiology.