It's pretty neat biochemistry, but that's all the so-called arsenic-based life is. PZ has a great piece from which I'll borrow some important points:
[A]nd notice, just below phosphorous, there's another atom, arsenic. You'd predict just from looking at the table that arsenic ought to have some chemical similarities to phosphorus, and you'd be right. Arsenic can substitute for phosphorus in many chemical reactions. This is, in fact, one of the reasons arsenic is toxic. It's similar, but not identical, to phosphorus, and can take its place in chemical reactions fundamental to life ...
Arsenic has the same valence as phosphor. And for those of you who have forgotten basic high school chemistry, that means it reacts with other elements and compounds in a similar way. Not only is that not surprising, back before scientists had an inkling about how atoms were put together, these chemical similarities allowed substances to be grouped into periods, indicated above by columns labeled IIIA, IVA, etc. And so the completed item, which forms the basis of modern chemistry to this day, eventually became known as the periodic table.
- SpaceX's Falcon 9 is on the pad at Kennedy Space Center with a Dragon capsule perched atop (Background). I don't think people fully grasp the revolution in space travel and space-based resources that may soon be upon us.
- It takes a kick ass community, to know a kick ass community: those are individual players all coordinating their lines and steps:
- The LHC is making mini Big Bangs.