[Surial]

I will be putting a different perspective on this subject in this thread, although there may be another thread discussing this.

More info:

Popular Science magazine, June 2006, pg.31,33

Quote:
As bizarre as it may seem the sample jars brimming with cloudy, reddish rainwater in Godfrey Louis' Lab in southern India may hold, well, aliens. In April, Louis, a solid-state physicist at Mahatma Gandhi University, published a paper in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal Astrophysics and Space Science in which he hypothesizes that the samples (water taken from the mysterious blood-colored showers that fell sporadically across Louis' home state of Kerela in the summer of 2001) contain microbes from outer space.
Specifically, Louis has isolated strange, thick walled, red tinted cell like structures about 10 microns in size. Stranger still, dozens of his experriments suggest that the particles may lack DNAyet still reproduce plentifully, even in water superheated to nearly 600 degrees farenheit. (The known upper limit for life in water is about 250 degrees) So how to explain them? Louis speculates that the particles could be Extraterrestrial bacteria adapted to the harsh conditions of space and that the microbes hitched a ride on a comet or meteorite that later broke apat in the upper atmosphere and mixed with rain clouds above India. If his theory proves correct, the cells would be the first confirmed proof of alien life and as such, could yield tantalizing new clues to the origins of life on Earth.
Last winter Louis sent some of his samples to astronomer Chandra Wickramasinghe and his colleagues at Cardkff University in Wales, who are now attempting to replicate his experiments; Wickramasinghe expects to publish his initial findings later this year.
Meanwhle, more down to Earth theories abound. One Indian government investigation conducted in 2001 lays blame for what some have called "blood rains" on algae. Other theories have implicated fungal spores, red dust swept up from the Arabian Peninsula, even a fine mist of blood cells produced by a meteor striking a high flying flock of bats.
Louis and his colleagues dismiss all these theories, pointing to the fact that both algae and blood cells have thin walls and die quickly when exposed to water and air. More important, they argue, blood cells don't replicate. "We've already got some stunning pictures (transmission electron micrographs) of these cells sliced in the middle." Wickramasinghe says, "We see them budding, with little daughter cells inside the big ones."
Louis' theory holds special appeal for Wickramainghe. A quarter of a century ago, he co-authored the modern theory of panspermia, which posits that bacteria riddled space rocks seeded life on arth. "If it's true that liffe on Earth was introduced bycomets four billion years ago." the astronomer says, "one could expect that microorganisms are still injected into out environment from time to time. This could be one of those events."
The next significant step, explains University of heffield microbiologist Milton Wainwright, who is part of another British team now studying Louis' samples, is to confirm whether the cells truly lack DNA. So far, only preliminary DNA test has come back positive. "Life as we know it must contain DNA, or it's not life." he says, "but even if this organism proves to be an anomaly, the absence of DNA wouldn't necesarily mean it's extraterrestril.
Louis and Wickramasighe are planning further experiments to test the cells for specific carbon isotopes. If the results for specific carbon isotopes falls outside the norms for life on Earth, it would be powerful new evidence for Louis' idea, of which even Louis himself remains skeptical. "I would be most happy to accept a simpler explanation." he says, "but I cannot find any."