Posted: May 30, 2011 6:22 pm
Yeah it seems the safest bet is to assume the claims are false until properly shown otherwise.
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/05/further_panning_of_the_arsenic.php
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/05/further_panning_of_the_arsenic.php
PZ Myers wrote:Science magazine has published the formal criticisms of the claim to have found extremophiles that substituted arsenic for phosphorus in their chemistry. It's a thorough drubbing, and the most disappointing part is that Wolfe-Simon's rebuttal simply insists that they were right, and doesn't even acknowledge that many valid criticisms of the study were made. That's not how you do it. Instead, she should answer the complaints by saying that they will do the experiments in a way that specifically addresses the perceived shortcomings of the study; she and her lab have their credibility invested in this research now, and the answer to the barrage is not to batten down the hatches and do nothing, but to do more experiments to show that the critics are wrong.
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