NASA Researchers Make First Discovery of Life's Building Block in Comet

NASA Researchers Make First Discovery of Life's Building Block in Comet

www.jpl.nasa.gov

"Glycine is an amino acid used by living organisms to make proteins, and this is the first time an amino acid has been found in a comet," said Jamie Elsila of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Our discovery supports the theory that some of life's ingredients formed in space and were delivered to Earth long ago by meteorite and comet impacts."

(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 18-8-2009 by halfmanhalfamazing]

[edit on 18-8-2009 by halfmanhalfamazing]

This supports claims of extraterrestrial life and also shows that all

the building blocks to life might not have developed on earth.

Wonder what else we might discover on future comets... could

they have been the taxis that carried life??

I think that this is a fundamental discovery and that we will soon

find real traces of life on other planets!

www.jpl.nasa.gov
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by halfmanhalfamazing


This is transpermia. The theory that life, or at least the building blocks for life, originate in space and are then transplanted on planets, when caught by gravity.

It's a theory that has been doing the rounds for at least 30 years, possibly longer.

Dr. Chandra (India) is a proponent of this idea, and has been arguing for acceptance for some time...bet he's pleased about now.

He also theorizes that seasonal Flu and common cold viruses are from space too, and estimates that viruses can withstand re-entry in our atmosphere, because they are so small. Their very small size is what protects them from the friction of our atmosphere. They literally float down at a very slow rate, and take around two years to reach the surface.

Who knows..

This latest finding regarding amino acids (building blocks of proteins, and DNA) add weight to this hypothesis. Well, both transpermia and space bugs actually.

reply to post by spikey


Interesting theory.

Here is a link to some info on transpermia... do you have anything more on the

subject of transpermia? I would love to read more on the virusses from outer

space.


users.tpg.com.au...

Would make sense that we would struggle to find cures for these highly

evolved virrusses that survive on comets.

Yea. No. Guys... this is a HUGE discovery. But to say that it is evidence of life is wholly misleading and just plain WRONG. The amino aciods are fundamental components of life but although they have been created successfully in the laboratory for years they have yet to suddenly evolve into any kind of life form.

So lets fix the header, shall we? And be a little discriminating in how we present what is, in fact, a huge discovery.

Originally posted by jtma508
Yea. No. Guys... this is a HUGE discovery. But to say that it is evidence of life is wholly misleading and just plain WRONG.
So lets fix the header, shall we? And be a little discriminating in how we present what is, in fact, a huge discovery.

Sorry my mistake... seemed to copy only part of the title... Fixed

What's with the recent influx of people sayign change the headline?
Guys, headlines in Breaking Alternative must be EXACTLY like article headline.

Anyhow, I also don't like the headline, hehe
This is NOT any proof or insinuation that the beggining of the forming of humans started in outer space. That's like saying a man bought a sandwich from subway therefore all sandwiches must come from Subway. This is known as a fallacious syllogism.

How can scientists make such a horrible mistake?
Unbelievable.

Anyhow, this is still huge, they should instead of thinking we formed in space try to track where the traces of glycine came from.

Could all aliens be humanoids?
hmmmmmmmmm

I already made a thread on this.
Link

Originally posted by refuse_orders
I already made a thread on this.
Link

Sorry didn't see it when I searched

glycine is just a tiny molecule with 40 or so atoms in it. Big deal.

reply to post by halfmanhalfamazing


Thanks for the link halfmanhalfamazing, interesting stuff, isn't it.

Here's a link to a July 2001 write up on 'space bugs', from the BBC.
news.bbc.co.uk...
It's going back in time a bit, but is essentially what is thought about virus hitching a ride on dust and comets.

Interesting article from the BBC from around the same time, on ALH84001, the Martian meteorite found (rediscovered) in 1993. It's not about the so called fossilized bacteria found within it, but about micro crystals the were also contained in the small Martian rock.

Here's the link:
news.bbc.co.uk...



I remember reading about this further back than that, in UFO mag from the UK. I also remember Focus magazine did an article too (UK)

Don't forget though, Transpermia (not Panspermia, that's Earth centric) is between bodies in space, or planets.
This means that while it can be true life could, according to this theory, originate elsewhere in the universe and 'seed' itself here, it's also true the opposite could be applied.

In other words, it's equally possible that life began right here on Earth, and transplanted itself (or components of life) onto other bodies and planets, as it is for life to have been seeded here from other bodies and planets!

These 'space bugs' and amino acids, could have originated here, and are essentially coming home, possibly after millions of years or more. Proof of this may (or may not) be found in ancient terrestrial rocks, and comparison with what is being found in the upper atmosphere and from comets/space dust may be interesting.

The BBC article mentions that Dr. Chandra and his team has collected microbes from around 41Km altitude, and although they resemble Earth microbes, he cannot culture them. This is very strange, as Earth microbes culture very easily.

The latest discovery of amino acids in cometary dust, gives credence to either Transpermia being correct, or that the universe is literally teeming with life, of all descriptions and types, and that it is inevitable that some of it will find it's way onto the Earth and it's neighbours at some point.

Interesting stuff.

reply to post by spikey


Thank it is very interesting... very little is spoken about it which is strange

Originally posted by jtma508
So lets fix the header, shall we? And be a little discriminating in how we present what is, in fact, a huge discovery.

NO Lets NOT change the header as it is the exact title of the article and thus meets the T&C

Besides it says the BUILDING BLOCKS of life and that most certainly is evidence of life

Originally posted by halfmanhalfamazing
Here is a link to some info on transpermia... do you have anything more on the
subject of transpermia?

No...

but you might try the proper term

Panspermia

Indeed. And I think by Dr. Chandra (who actually taught HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey), you actually mean Dr. Chandra Wickramsinghe, co-author with Fred Hoyle of Evolution from Space back in the eighties.

I started a thread on it because I'd caught the story at the end of the main BBC news bulletin, but not enough of it to know why we think now that life is more common than we used to think.

It's an important story that got a sensible presentation. Not One Person mentioned Little Green Men.

[edit on 19-8-2009 by rich23]