NASA Discovers New Microbial Species, Redefining Forms of Life (Photo)

Washington, Dec 3 (CNN) -- NASA said today that a new form of microbial life has been discovered on Earth that is able to use arsenic for metabolism. Arsenic is highly toxic.

According to the New York Times, scientists said they had trained a form of bacteria to grow by using arsenic rather than phosphorus, which had long been considered one of the six elements essential for life. The discovery opens up new possibilities for where organisms might be found in the universe, including right here on Earth using biochemistry not previously known.

The bacteria were taken from California's Mono Lake, then grown in isolation.