Fossil algae found in meteorite -> panspermia hypothesis proven

[ketikoti]

http://www.buckingham.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Polonnaruwa-meteorite.pdf

A few weeks ago (29 december 2012), a meteorite fell in Sri Lanka, followed by some days of "red rain".

The "red rain" phenomena was a few years earlier also observed with a meteorite fall in Kerala, India. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_rain_in_Kerala, http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/science/red-rain-in-india-may-have-alien-origin-275252.html, http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2012/11/18/sri-lanka-red-rain-mistery-solved/)
Both meteorites have been determined to originate from the same (extinct) comet. When the meteorite in Sri Lanka was investigated by electron microscope, they found fossilized algae.

The existence of extraterrestrial life is now scientifically confirmed.

[DeDukshyn]

http://www.buckingham.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Polonnaruwa-meteorite.pdf

A few weeks ago (29 december 2012), a meteorite fell in Sri Lanka, followed by some days of "red rain".

The "red rain" phenomena was a few years earlier also observed with a meteorite fall in Kerala, India. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_rain_in_Kerala, http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/science/red-rain-in-india-may-have-alien-origin-275252.html, http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2012/11/18/sri-lanka-red-rain-mistery-solved/)
Both meteorites have been determined to originate from the same (extinct) comet. When the meteorite in Sri Lanka was investigated by electron microscope, they found fossilized algae.

The existence of extraterrestrial life is now scientifically confirmed.

The PDF link is not working.

I don't quite see a consistent trail between Comet --> algae fossils --> algae causing red rain; but nonetheless this is interesting.

[Flash]

The first link does not work

Interesting, from algae to humanoid, we are left with a few millions years of development to be acknowledge from PTB. At least, it is a beginning.

The red rain phenomena from the article in the second link of Ketikoti:


has studied samples of red rainwater in 2001 and discovered strange properties, including autofluorescence—light that is naturally emitted by cell structures like mitochondria.

Scientific analysis showed the striking red coloration is due to microscopic particles resembling biological cells, possibly originating from comet fragments.

Louis believes these cells could be extra-terrestrial because existing theories already hypothesize that comets may have a hot water core with chemical nutrients able to support microbial growth.

“Such comets can break into fragments as they near the sun during their travel along highly elliptical orbits,” he told The Epoch Times via email. “These fragments can remain in orbit and later can enter Earth’s atmosphere periodically.”

According to Louis, red particles in the atmosphere from a fragmented meteor probably seeded the red rain clouds.


A red cell as seen with transmission electron microscopy. (Godfrey Louis/CUSAT)

“There can be roughly of the order of 100 million cells in one liter of red rain water,” he said. “The red rain can appear like black coffee if the concentration of the cells increases in the rain water.”

These “alien” cells resemble normal cells, but lack conventional biological molecules like DNA, and are expected to have different biochemistry.

[buckminster fuller]

Found another related article :
OMG! Fossil Diatoms Found In a New Carbonaceous Meteorite.
Diatoms are a variety of algae.
http://www.geekation.com/?p=19378

[DeDukshyn]

I found some more info on as well here: I think the pics on this site were on the PDF, which appears to have been pulled for some reason.

http://www.mirror.lk/news/4569-polonnaruwa-meteorite-evidence-of-extraterrestrial-life

[buckminster fuller]

apparently it didn't go well with one of the four scientists 2 years ago :CHANDRA WICKRAMASINGHE DISMISSED FROM CARDIFF UNIVERSITY IN WALES

http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2011/03/19/chandra-wickramasinghe-dismissed-from-cardiff-university-in-wales/

[meat suit]

apparently it didn't go well with one of the four scientists 2 years ago :CHANDRA WICKRAMASINGHE DISMISSED FROM CARDIFF UNIVERSITY IN WALES

http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2011/03/19/chandra-wickramasinghe-dismissed-from-cardiff-university-in-wales/

this guy and collegues collected bacteria from outer space, using ballons that they sent up well outside the atmosphere. the collection chambers fell back to earth via parachute, and the collected bacteria grew happyly in petri dishes. he had some bad press years ago when he claimed that the sars (i think) virus had come from outer space..,.

[Tesla_WTC_Solution]

People say, the ocean is our mother. The sun is our father, then!? (stars!)

I am starting to think as a former fundie, I was one of the stupid ones.

Evolution isn't such a stupid theory -- needs to be developed, for example, by people like Jean Piaget!

[Dennis Leahy]

... When the meteorite in Sri Lanka was investigated by electron microscope, they found fossilized algae.

The existence of extraterrestrial life is now scientifically confirmed.

Wouldn't it be funny if the phrase, "I wonder if there are other life forms anywhere in the Universe?" should be replaced by, "I wonder if there is anywhere in the Universe devoid of life?"

Dennis

[Tesla_WTC_Solution]

... When the meteorite in Sri Lanka was investigated by electron microscope, they found fossilized algae.

The existence of extraterrestrial life is now scientifically confirmed.

Wouldn't it be funny if the phrase, "I wonder if there are other life forms anywhere in the Universe?" should be replaced by, "I wonder if there is anywhere in the Universe devoid of life?"

Dennis

"Life finds a way" ~michael crichton's Jurassic Park

[Dennis Leahy]

Well, I guess I get the honor of posting the FIRST scientifically confirmed photo of an alien on Avalon:

http://www.geekation.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Geekation_ExraterrestrialLife.jpg
"Take me to your leader."

Thanks for the links, guys, and for letting me have the scoop! :~)

Dennis

[Flash]

People say, the ocean is our mother. The sun is our father, then!? (stars!)

I am starting to think as a former fundie, I was one of the stupid ones.

Evolution isn't such a stupid theory -- needs to be developed, for example, by people like Jean Piaget!

1. what is a fundie?
2. why would Jean Piaget be mixed in with the theory of evolution? Am I missing anything?

[WhiteFeather]

If you want to see an alien species. Just look neath our waterways. Challenger Deep Re Mariana Trench. No sunlight. No oxygen. Enormous pressures that would crush the human body into talcum powder. Yet there exists such lifeforms below. Makes me wonder. Aliens live here on earth.
Before we go into space, we should travel underwater first.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXZdPmo0Otc

[ketikoti]

The PDF link is not working.



I have included the paper as an attachment.

I found these comments here (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5055227), which you might like to read too:



The Journal of Cosmology has rather a bad reputation. The fact that the meteorite only landed on earth three weeks before publication doesn't suggest that much review has gone on either.

Don't get me wrong: I'd love for this to be actual, irrefutable evidence of extraterrestrial life and panspermia. It could even be that, but it's published in a crank paper unfortunately.


Looking at the wikipedia page [1] for this journal, not only do they have a bad reputation, but they have a bad reputation for publishing papers about precisely this topic. The general consensus seems to be that the papers' evidence have been too weak and not thorough enough for the claims they make.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journal_of_Cosmology#Hoover_paper_controversy


"At the time of entry into the Earth’s atmosphere on 29 December 2012, the parent body of the Polonnaruwa meteorite would have had most of its interior porous volume filled with water, volatile organics and possibly viable living cells"

Begs the question...

"A few percent carbon as revealed by EDX analysis confirms the status of a carbonaceous meteorite."

Does something that sounds about as scientific as "point and guess"...

"The intricacy of the regular patterns of “holes”, ridges and indentations are again unquestionably biological, and this is impossible to interpret rationally as arising from an inorganic crystallisation process."

Argument from personal incredulity...

...etc...

I won't be celebrating this discovery just yet...

[Tesla_WTC_Solution]

People say, the ocean is our mother. The sun is our father, then!? (stars!)

I am starting to think as a former fundie, I was one of the stupid ones.

Evolution isn't such a stupid theory -- needs to be developed, for example, by people like Jean Piaget!

1. what is a fundie?
2. why would Jean Piaget be mixed in with the theory of evolution? Am I missing anything?

1. A fundie is a religious person who turns off their brain to pass judgments.
2. Jean Piaget introducted the theory of intelligent adaptation and willful gene fixing. I didn't mean Piaget contributed knowingly to evolutionary theory.

I am not sure what I think about it all though!

[Flash]

People say, the ocean is our mother. The sun is our father, then!? (stars!)

I am starting to think as a former fundie, I was one of the stupid ones.

Evolution isn't such a stupid theory -- needs to be developed, for example, by people like Jean Piaget!

1. what is a fundie?
2. why would Jean Piaget be mixed in with the theory of evolution? Am I missing anything?

1. A fundie is a religious person who turns off their brain to pass judgments.
2. Jean Piaget introducted the theory of intelligent adaptation and willful gene fixing. I didn't mean Piaget contributed knowingly to evolutionary theory.

I am not sure what I think about it all though!

With the misery he imposed on his own children, I am not sure about Piaget at all. However, willful gene fixing is not stupid at all.

Thanks for the fundie description, much clearer than any dictionnary.;)

[Dennis Leahy]

Evidently, the diatoms in the "meteorite" are species known to exist on Earth, and the paper's main author has a proclivity to push the concept of panspermia. The rock may also not even be a meteorite.

I don't have definitive proof, but can post the links someone sent me if anyone wants them.

Dennis

[Hervé]

Evidently, the diatoms in the "meteorite" are species known to exist on Earth...
Dennis

Any evidence for that statement?

Because the only criterion I know of to log a unicellular or multicellular organism into the "Diatom" category is this one:


A characteristic feature of diatom cells is that they are encased within a cell wall made of silica (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silica) (hydrated silicon dioxide) called a frustule (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frustule). These frustules show a wide diversity in form, but are usually almost bilaterally symmetrical, hence the group name. The symmetry is not perfect since one of the valves is slightly larger than the other allowing one valve to fit inside the edge of the other.

From http://www.mirror.lk/news/4569-polonnaruwa-meteorite-evidence-of-extraterrestrial-life:




"People might try to say that what we found were terrestrial contaminants. Contamination after landing on Earth is ruled out absolutely because of the way the diatoms are woven between the rock matrix. In any case we found many diatom types that are not known to be present on the soil where the meteorite landed."


The scientists said minutes after a large fire ball seen by a large number of people in Sri Lanka on 29 December 2012 a large meteorite disintegrated and fell in the village of Araganwila located few miles away from the historic city of Polonnaruwa.


At the time of entry into the earth’s atmosphere on 29 December 2012 the parent body of the Polonnaruwa meteorite would have had most of its interior porous volume filled with water , volatile organics and possibly viable living cells. The scientists said a remarkable coincidence was the red rain.


They said the red rain analyzed at the Medical Research Insitute in Colombo contained red biological cells that show spontaneous movement and the ability of reproducing. Abnormally high in arsenic and silver they are connected to a non territorial habitat , possibly connected with a cometary asteroidal body. The four scientists said the Polonnaruwa meteorite was a result of a fragmentation of such a body.


The electron microscopic studies of the Polonnaruwa meteorite had been done at the School of Earth Sciences of the Cardiff University, in the United Kingdom.
The scientists said in the meteorite microfossils rather than living cells were seen . The scientists said in the meteorite the donut shaped structure seen has a striking similarity to Kerala red rain cells and the cells contained in the red rain that followed the meteorite fall in the Polonnaruwa area.


The scientists said contamination is decisively ruled out in the meteorite since the structure is deemed to be fossilized and fossil diatoms were not present on the surface of the ground where it fell.The scientists said , contamination is excluded by the circumstance that the elemental abundances within the structures match closely with those of the surrounding matrix. There is also evidence of structures morphologically similar to red rain cells that may have contributed to the episode of red rain that followed within days of the meteorite fall. They said , “We conclude therefore identification of the fossilized diatom of the Polonnaruwa meteorite is firmly established and unimpeachable.”


They also said,” Since this meteorite is considered to be an extinct cometary fragment , the idea of microbial life carried within comets and the theory of cometary panspermia is vindicated.”




http://www.mirror.lk/images/image_gallery/news/2013/jan/Meteor_600px_13_01_13.jpg

[ketikoti]

I think Slate Magazine does a convincing job to pull the plug on the claim of a fossile in the meteorite. Unfortunately, I have to say!

"No, Diatoms Have Not Been Found in a Meteorite":
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/01/15/life_in_a_meteorite_claims_by_n_c_wickramasinghe_of_diatoms_in_a_meteorite.html

[Hervé]

I think Slate Magazine does a convincing job to pull the plug on the claim of a fossile in the meteorite. Unfortunately, I have to say!

"No, Diatoms Have Not Been Found in a Meteorite":
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/01/15/life_in_a_meteorite_claims_by_n_c_wickramasinghe_of_diatoms_in_a_meteorite.html

I found it to be a convincing hatchet job lacking even more scientific credibility with starting on the ad hominem gradient. Then, why resort to a museum guy rather than a geologist specialized in Diatoms and Forams? Like the many that used to work for the oil industry in order to determin if those on the pictures are fossilized forms? They do look fossilized to me.

It is indeed too bad that the in situ recovery of the meteorite isn't documented, but that 's not the point of the scientific paper which was submitted.

The authors never mentioned a chondrite, that's Slate jumping on conclusions.

As for the "fresh water" current Diatoms, that would be in contradiction with the repeated account of that meteorite having been recovered on solid ground.

Have the authors been handed a piece of sh!t palmed off as a meteorite by the locals? Or did they themselves recovered a genuine meteorite?

All in all, to me, it's a "wait and see" for more data on that piece of rock; since grants and fundings lead too many scientists on the road to falsification, global warming to wit.

[Hervé]

The paper itself published in "Journal of Cosmology": http://journalofcosmology.com/JOC21/PolonnaruwaRRRR.pdf