ПАНСПЕРМИЯ
A paper to appear in a scientific journal claims a strange red rain might have dumped microbes from space onto Earth four years ago.
http://www.world-science.net/exclusives/060104_specksfrm1.htm
The scientists agree on two points, though. The things look like cells, at least superficially. And no one is sure what they are. “These particles have much similarity with biological cells though they are devoid of DNA”
The new paper includes a chemical analysis of the particles, a description of their appearance under microscopes and a survey of where they fell. It assesses various explanations for them and concludes that the specks, which vaguely resemble red blood cells, might have come from a meteor.
“I don’t have an obvious explanation,” agreed prominent origins-of-life researcher David Deamer of the University of California Santa Cruz. They “look like real cells, but with a very thick cell wall. But the leap to an extraterrestrial form of life delivered to Earth must surely be the least likely hypothesis.”
A range of additional tests is needed, he added. The researchers didn’t dispute the panspermia theory itself, which has a substantial scientific following. “Panspermia may well be possible,” wrote Lynn J. Rothschild of the NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. “I’m just not so sure that this is a case of it.”
Astrophysics and Space Science, 2006
"The red rain phenomenon of Kerala and its possible extraterrestrial origin"
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0601022
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_rain_in_Kerala
http://www.world-science.net/exclusives/060104_specksfrm1.htm
The scientists agree on two points, though. The things look like cells, at least superficially. And no one is sure what they are. “These particles have much similarity with biological cells though they are devoid of DNA”
The new paper includes a chemical analysis of the particles, a description of their appearance under microscopes and a survey of where they fell. It assesses various explanations for them and concludes that the specks, which vaguely resemble red blood cells, might have come from a meteor.
“I don’t have an obvious explanation,” agreed prominent origins-of-life researcher David Deamer of the University of California Santa Cruz. They “look like real cells, but with a very thick cell wall. But the leap to an extraterrestrial form of life delivered to Earth must surely be the least likely hypothesis.”
A range of additional tests is needed, he added. The researchers didn’t dispute the panspermia theory itself, which has a substantial scientific following. “Panspermia may well be possible,” wrote Lynn J. Rothschild of the NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. “I’m just not so sure that this is a case of it.”
Astrophysics and Space Science, 2006
"The red rain phenomenon of Kerala and its possible extraterrestrial origin"
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0601022
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_rain_in_Kerala