Don't know if you've heard, but NASA discovered potential new life forms that could actually cause the textbooks to be re-written. But that's not what we're gushing about. It's the lead scientist involved in the discovery – Felisa Wolfe-Simon who's got our attention (thanks to Jezebel). Meet this 30-something woman who's not just a science whiz but a guitar-playing, nose-ring sporting star too!
Get this: She did a double degree program in Biology and Chemistry and a Bachelor of Music in Oboe Performance and Ethnomusicology at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music! As if that wasn't enough, this brainiac went on to get her Ph.D. in Oceanography from Rutgers University in 2006. Now who do you know who comes even close?
No wonder then she was able to discover the bacterium GFAJ-1 from Mono Lake, California that is able to incorporate arsenate as a substitute for phosphate in its DNA and other essential biomolecules. For those of us who are gob-smacked by the very length of that sentence, it means she discovered the first form of life known to be capable of growth in environments with little or no phosphorus!
But there's more to Felisa than microscopes and lab coats, she's an oboist (she teaches too!) and a rocking bass guitarist who's nickname is Iron Lisa ;) Talk about being a jack of all trades!
Get this: She did a double degree program in Biology and Chemistry and a Bachelor of Music in Oboe Performance and Ethnomusicology at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music! As if that wasn't enough, this brainiac went on to get her Ph.D. in Oceanography from Rutgers University in 2006. Now who do you know who comes even close?
No wonder then she was able to discover the bacterium GFAJ-1 from Mono Lake, California that is able to incorporate arsenate as a substitute for phosphate in its DNA and other essential biomolecules. For those of us who are gob-smacked by the very length of that sentence, it means she discovered the first form of life known to be capable of growth in environments with little or no phosphorus!
But there's more to Felisa than microscopes and lab coats, she's an oboist (she teaches too!) and a rocking bass guitarist who's nickname is Iron Lisa ;) Talk about being a jack of all trades!
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