Nasa finds new form of DNA in search for alien life

Nasa-funded scientists have developed a new kind of DNA-like structure that can store and transmit information – and could lead to new ways of finding alien life. The breakthrough discovery suggests there might be alternative, unimagined forms of DNA-based life as we know it on Earth. Life on other worlds might be built using different molecular systems of the kind the researchers developed in the lab, Nasa experts have suggested. The new molecular system will allow scientists who are looking for life elsewhere in the universe to re-think what they are actually looking for, researchers said. DNA is a complex molecule that allows the genetic information that makes us who we are to be stored and then transmitted.