主题：【原创】死亡起源 The Origin of Death -- az09

The “Arsenic Life” Controversy: Citizen-Based Peer Review and

Differing Standards of Scientific Evidence。

Case summary: Because of its potential implications for the very definition of life, the field of astrobiology is one that engages both the research community’s attention and the public’s imagination. This case study deals with the announcement of the discovery of a bacterium that purportedly replaces the essential life element phosphorus with arsenic for its survival; if true the finding would be paradigm-changing. However, multiple problems with both the study and its revelation through press conference became apparent almost immediately after the announcement. The initial criticism was followed by a novel experiment on a blog seeking to duplicate the results; this experiment along with several others found fundamental flaws with the findings. The case illustrates both the perils and benefits of Internet-based, citizen-enabled peer review as well as citizen science. It also raises interesting questions about the modalities of peer review in the age of interdisciplinary research and the great potential of citizen-based analysis in favorably augmenting these modalities。