NASA votes for realism in science fiction films

In all film-savvy groups you will find an individual that dismisses a film simply because it is unrealistic and scientifically bogus(for example "Star Wars sucks because you can't have sound in space"). Besides loving Star Wars I have to admit that I do not really care about the scientific plausibility very much if I do enjoy the movie for any other reason.

NASA and the Science and Entertainment Exchange voted for the most unrealistic/worst sci-fi films as well as the most realistic/science faithful films. It is an interesting list:

Most unrealistic films

1. 2012 (2009)
2. The Core (2003)
3. Armageddon (1998)
4. Volcano (1997)
5. Chain Reaction (1996)
6. The 6th Day (2000)
7. What the Bleep Do We Know? (2004)

Most realistic films

1. Gattaca (1997)
2. Contact (1997)
3. Metropolis (1927)
4. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
5. Woman in the Moon (1929)
6. The Thing from Another World (1951)
7. Jurassic Park (1993)

We are still alone.

A few days ago NASA ignited the imagination of everyone with a laconic press release about a news conference to announce a discovery in astrobiology.

The internet being what it is, the rumors began to grow and grow with most ignorant people thinking it would be concerning the discovery of intelligent life (unfortuantely, no intelligent life has yet been found on the internet*).

Of course that was not the case. The most ideal scenario would be the discovery of some micro-organism outside Earth.

Well they did find a micro-organism in the most bizzare and alien place imaginable: California!
The amazing thing about this bacteria discovered in lake Mono, is that it uses arsenic, a deadly poison, instead of phosphorus in it's DNA chain. This is the first organism we have discovered that can replace one of the six fundamental elements of all life (hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, sulphur and phosphorus).

This completely changes our conceptions of how life can evolve and it widens the spectrum of locations were we should be looking for evidence of life.

In the immortal words of Jeff Goldblum: "Life finds a way!"


*credits to hotshuk for this joke :P

Has the first evidence of extraterrestrial life been discovered?

It has been announce by NASA that a news conference will be held on the 2nd of December. The details are embargoed until then but the press release by NASA states that the topic will be "an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life".


Could it be that some evidence of extraterrestrial life has been discovered? If that is the case, what kind of organism can it be? 


I always firmly believed that life must be abundant in the universe, but the sheer vastness of it would make it difficult for us to discover since we are in our technological infancy.


Will our view of the universe change in 2 days? Will we live in an age when proof exists that Earth in not the only planet which supports life? Will science fiction become science fact?


I eagerly await the news conference to find out!