Arsenic eating bacteria? Easy.Prions? Not so.
Prions are essentially self-replicating proteins that can cause disease (BSE, or "mad-cow" disease" is just one). They have no DNA, they don't seem to "metabolize", yet they reproduce and cause mayhem among eukaryotic cells. In the scheme of living things they don't qualify (by some standards) but I think they are alive. In fact, to me they are a further indication that "life" is an integral part of the "way things are".
There was a blurb on the internet over the weekend that suggested that the existence of arsenic-eating bacteria has some profound influence on our understanding of life. If that's the case (and I don't think it really is), prions got there first.
I love it when man's puny intellect is challenged...to me, that is strong evidence of the existence of REAL omnipotence!
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