Extraterrestrial (microbial) life found in meteorite

It looks like they've finally solved one of the biggest mysteries - Is there life elsewhere in the universe?

ABSTRACT

We report the discovery for the first time of fossilised diatoms in a carbonaceous meteorite
that fell in the North Central Province of Sri Lanka on 29 December 2012. 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. The new data on fossil diatoms provide
strong evidence to support the theory of cometary panspermia.

Source: Link to Paper (PDF format)

This also apparently solves the mystery of "red rains" that have occurred after meteorite falls in the past.

That is all I can say right now, as I'm still taking all of this in - although I've always suspected there was life somewhere else besides earth, this is such a monolithic discovery that I'm lost for words

I'm also rather busy right now and I just wanted to post the news, so I'll leave it for ATSers to continue the discussion

Related Links
Meteorite particles in Polonnaruwa?

Wow great news if true! But didn't we go through this a few years ago with the rock from Mars?

Hopefully this time it hasn't been contaminated and we can really say life exists elsewhere out there!

S&F!

Fascinating... S&F OP!!!

Not only is this an amazing find, but they believe that they may have found the same cells that have fallen in red rain events prior!

Here is a close-up pic of our newly found "friend"...



The paper says:

In the higher resolution image of Fig3 we can unambiguously identify an object as being a diatom from its complex and highly ordered microstructure and morphology, that cannot result from any conceivable mineralisation or crystallisation process. The structure has been mineralised to a high degree over millions of years and displays close similarities in elemental abundances with the surrounding material. This is shown in the EDX maps in Fig.4, that compares the distribution of elements inside and outside the fossilised object.

And another that shows the alleged same red rain cell:



I encourage everyone to take a look at the paper. I'll be looking forward to seeing what comes out of this in the coming days and weeks.

~Namaste

reply to post by FireballStorm


If the meteorite fell December 29 it seems too early to come up with 100% conclusive results, even to if it is a meteorite, where it came from, what exactly is being called "life" etc. But I haven't read the paper (leery about downloading), so maybe those who have can answer those questions three. Thanks.

Added: The pics of the "lifeform" came in as I was writing this, and it sure looks like a very advanced animal fossil (something like that would take millions of years of evolution to form, at a rough guess).

It is possible that the fossils originated on Earth.

The meteorite may have been a chunk of rock thrown into orbit by an asteroid striking Earth long ago. If this is the case, the fossils are not extraterrestrial.

We are told that the Martian meteorite was dislodged from Mars the same way.

I was not able to pull up the pdf

So is the red rain biological in form?
Raining aliens?

so, that`s what they looked liked millions of years ago, i wonder what they look like now after millions of years of evolution?

The structure has been mineralised to a high degree over millions of years

Originally posted by Tardacus
so, that`s what they looked liked millions of years ago, i wonder what they look like now after millions of years of evolution?

The structure has been mineralised to a high degree over millions of years

edit on 13-1-2013 by Tardacus because: (no reason given)

I'm guessing they don't look like anything now. That's if the meteorites suggest that their planet was obliterated somehow. The cool part is that this means Adam and Eve have left the building!

The meteorite supposedly fell on December 29, 2012. It was then sent to the UK for study. There is now a published study released after less than two weeks. That doesn't seem like much time for such an important discovery to have undergone much critical scrutiny.
Bold words:

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

www.buckingham.ac.uk...

The quality of peer review at the journal has been questioned several times.[2][3][4][5] The journal has also been accused of promoting fringe viewpoints and speculative viewpoints on astrobiology, astrophysics, and quantum physics. Skeptical blogger and biologist PZ Myers said of the journal "... it isn't a real science journal at all, but is the... website of a small group... obsessed with the idea of Hoyle and Wickramasinghe that life originated in outer space and simply rained down on Earth."[3][7]

en.wikipedia.org...

Wickramasinghe has been quite obsessed with this idea for quite sometime. I think his desire to find evidence has overrun his attention to science.

reply to post by Phage


Come now, Phage. You're above character assassination.

reply to post by FireballStorm


Hmmm... we all know that logically the chances of there being ONLY life on Earth within the universe is essentially infinitesimal... and most of us would assume that the gubmints have known of ET life for decades....

So the timing of this coming out is what is truly significant, not necessarily the actual thing being reported itself; this is a pseudo revelation to most of us.

So what is going on BEHIND the scenes, here? Are the PTB easing the public into a larger announcement? If so, why? Are they being forced to? Or are they planning something devious, as would be par for the course for them?

reply to post by JayinAR

I said nothing about anyone's character.
I said the "journal" in which the article was very rapidly published is not known for its quality. I said that Wickramasinghe seems to have been in a very great hurry to publish, not really a hallmark of careful scientific work. Sloppy science is sloppy science, it has nothing to do with character.

reply to post by Phage


You suggested that his desire to find evidence has clouded his ability to conduct himself in a Scientific manner. How about we just wait for that peer review you mention? It will surely get it now.

I mean, to say that this was published too quickly to be legit isn't a very good way to go about discrediting something. Am I right?
It needs to be weighed on its actual merits, or lack thereof.

reply to post by JayinAR

You suggested that his desire to find evidence has clouded his ability to conduct himself in a Scientific manner.

Yes. Yes I did. It wouldn't be the first time a scientist has fallen prey to it. It has little to do with strength of character.

reply to post by Phage


Well, one thing I can say for sure is there is no question that that is a biological find... no question in my mind. Do you agree? If so, where does that leave us?

reply to post by JayinAR

I can say for sure is there is no question that that is a biological find

You're an expert, huh?
It leaves us waiting for some real experts to have a look at it. Of course, the "journal" will probably just reject any criticism just as they did of Hoover's "find".

Following the publication of Richard Hoover's paper, what ensued could be likened to a rein of terror, a witch hunt, an inquisition designed to crush all discussion of his findings. There were even calls to "hang" Richard Hoover. Three hundred years ago, they would have burned us all at the stake.

daviddobbs.posterous.com...

reply to post by Phage

Yeah, I realized that sounded a little absolute. So I threw in that there is no question from where I sit. No, I am no expert, but it definitely appears to be biological to me. Looks like a worm of some sort...WITHOUT question.

reply to post by JayinAR

Well, one thing I can say for sure is there is no question that that is a biological find

You may very well be right......the real question is where did the microbes originate from?

As has been mentioned, less than three weeks since the meteor crashed and already a scientific paper is published .....colour me skeptical, but couldn't those microbes have originated on earth?.....17 days to transport the samples to the UK, have then analysed and publish a scientific paper seems a little "rushed" in my opinion.

reply to post by JayinAR

Yes. That's what Hoover thought too.

"Move along folks. There's nothing to see here," wrote Rosie Redfield, a microbiologist at the University of British Columbia, saying that it is easy to find structures in nature that appear similar to bacteria.

articles.latimes.com...