Henry Bortman / 2010 Other scientists are analyzing the
controversial strain of bacteria that biologist Felisa Wolfe-
Simon and her colleagues found in California's Mono Lake. It's
been one year since researchers shook up the scientific world by
claiming they bred bacteria that used arsenic in place of
phosphorus, and the controversy is still simmering: The lead
researcher and her critics say they're taking a closer look at
the microbe at the center of the "weird life" claims. After
hitting the highs and the lows of academic acclaim, Felisa
Wolfe-Simon has left her original research group and joined up
with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California to
continue her research into the bacterium known as GFAJ-1, which
gets its name from the acronym for "Give Felisa a Job." (No
joke!) "There is so much work to do we're focusing on that and
look forward to communicating our efforts in the coming months,"
Wolfe-Simon told me in an email this week. Meanwhile, Wolfe-
Simon's highest-profile critic, University