The article appeared in December 2010, and immediately attracted scrutiny for its methodology, as well as complaints about how Science and NASA, where some of the authors worked, handled publicity for the work. The paper has been cited 326 times, according to Clarivate’s Web of Science. Those citations include eight "technical comments", the authors’ response, and an editors’ note that appeared six months after initial publication. Two papers from 2012 describe unsuccessful attempts to replicate the findings. Despite publishing so many formal critiques, the journal did not retract the paper in 2012.

Fifteen years after publishing an explosive but long-criticized paper claiming to describe a microbe that could substitute arsenic for phosphate in its chemical makeup, Science is retracting the article, citing "expanded" criteria for retraction. The authors stand by their findings and disagree with the retraction, and contend the decision doesn’t reflect best practices for publishers.

Source https://retractionwatch.com/2025/07/24/science-retraction-arsenic-life-nasa-astrobiology/

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