New studies nix report of arsenic-loving bacteria - Wall Street Journal

The saga began when scientists led by Felisa Wolfe-Simon of NASA's Astrobiology Institute published a paper that said the bacteria, found at Mono Lake in eastern California, could grow by substituting arsenic for phosphorus. The researchers had looked at Mono Lake because of its high arsenic levels, and they reported their conclusions from lab experiments.For both new papers, scientists did their own tests of the bacteria. One team, led by Rosemary Redfield of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, reports that arsenic does not contribute to the bacteria's growth. Maybe the original results came from some sort of undetected contaminant in the arsenic the researchers used, they suggest.<br />http://online.wsj.com/article/AP452b9db03a74414bb2240f4208c5fbd1.html