NASA 's Announcement of Different Type of Life Form

Today NASA announced the discovery of a type of bacteria that substitutes arsenic for phosphorus in its DNA. This is an important discover for the study of life in the universe. What I find very telling is the fact that the news commentator for the Fox News channel found the NASA presentation "boring" the moment chemistry was mentioned, and the news commentator for CNN implied that the scientist giving the presenation was odd because she was excited about the discovery of her team. For me, these reactions speak volumes about why so few young American students are interested in studying science or math -- our society at large views science as "boring" and people who are excited about science as odd. Until this attitude changes, it will be difficult to entice young people to embark on a career in science.