Amelia Gentleman and Robin McKie Sunday March 5, 2006 The Observer Posted on 03/06/2006 6:59:40 AM PST by S0122017
Red rain could prove that aliens have landed Amelia Gentleman and Robin McKie Sunday March 5, 2006 The Observer
There is a small bottle containing a red fluid on a shelf in Sheffield University's microbiology laboratory. The liquid looks cloudy and uninteresting. Yet, if one group of scientists is correct, the phial contains the first samples of extraterrestrial life isolated by researchers. Inside the bottle are samples left over from one of the strangest incidents in recent meteorological history. On 25 July, 2001, blood-red rain fell over the Kerala district of western India. And these rain bursts continued for the next two months. All along the coast it rained crimson, turning local people's clothes pink, burning leaves on trees and falling as scarlet sheets at some points.
Investigations suggested the rain was red because winds had swept up dust from Arabia and dumped it on Kerala. But Godfrey Louis, a physicist at Mahatma Gandhi University in Kottayam, after gathering samples left over from the rains, concluded this was nonsense. 'If you look at these particles under a microscope, you can see they are not dust, they have a clear biological appearance.' Instead Louis decided that the rain was made up of bacteria-like material that had been swept to Earth from a passing comet. In short, it rained aliens over India during the summer of 2001.
Not everyone is convinced by the idea, of course. Indeed most researchers think it is highly dubious. One scientist who posted a message on Louis's website described it as 'bullshit'.
But a few researchers believe Louis may be on to something and are following up his work. Milton Wainwright, a microbiologist at Sheffield, is now testing samples of Kerala's red rain. 'It is too early to say what's in the phial,' he said. 'But it is certainly not dust. Nor is there any DNA there, but then alien bacteria would not necessarily contain DNA.'
Critical to Louis's theory is the length of time the red rain fell on Kerala. Two months is too long for it to have been wind-borne dust, he says. In addition, one analysis showed the particles were 50 per cent carbon, 45 per cent oxygen with traces of sodium and iron: consistent with biological material. Louis also discovered that, hours before the first red rain fell, there was a loud sonic boom that shook houses in Kerala. Only an incoming meteorite could have triggered such a blast, he claims. This had broken from a passing comet and shot towards the coast, shedding microbes as it travelled. These then mixed with clouds and fell with the rain. Many scientists accept that comets may be rich in organic chemicals and a few, such as the late Fred Hoyle, the UK theorist, argued that life on Earth evolved from microbes that had been brought here on comets. But most researchers say that Louis is making too great a leap in connecting his rain with microbes from a comet.
For his part, Louis is unrepentant. 'If anybody hears a theory like this, that it is from a comet, they dismiss it as an unbelievable kind of conclusion. Unless people understand our arguments - people will just rule it out as an impossible thing, that extra-terrestrial biology is responsible for this red rain.'
"consist out of"
s/b
"consist of"
:')
Ping
Dang, I miss WWN. I always make sure to read at least one issue when I'm home. Every page is a laugh riot.
lol
ok
My english aint great. It aint my language.
S0122017, thanks for the ping. VR, a topic of interest?
I apologize, if my comment offends you. To my knowledge, God only created earth with inhabitants. All the rest, I consider, baloney...
Hey GK....check this out.
Extraterrestrial oolites...
I agree with you. However, I think it's possible that earth bacteria has escaped by meteor impact 'backwash', then migrated to Mars through space, then possibly took root there on Mars, then re-migrated back here by meteor impact.
Well, perhaps the fellow who called "bullshit" was righter than he knew ... if you were an alien lifeform, wouldn't you want to land where bullshit is sacred?
Be sure to let us know when you've figured out how a passing comet can put a dust cloud in geostationary orbit....
TO ALL SCEPTICS: read the science article first.
Whatever they are: they are multiplying.
New biology of red rain extremophiles prove cometary panspermia
Authors: Godfrey Louis, A. Santhosh Kumar (Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, India)
Comments: 17 pages, 6 figures, see related paper astro-ph/0310120
SUMMARY
This paper reports the extraordinary biology of the microorganisms from the mysterious red rain of Kerala, India. These chemosynthetic organisms grow optimally at an extreme high temperature of 300 degrees C in hydrothermal conditions and can metabolize inorganic and organic compounds including hydrocarbons. Stages found in their life cycle show reproduction by a special multiple fission process and the red cells found in the red rain are identified as the resting spores of these microbes. While these extreme hyperthermophiles contain proteins, our study shows the absence of DNA in these organisms, indicating a new primitive domain of life with alternate thermostable genetics. This new biology proves our earlier hypothesis that these microbes are of extraterrestrial origin and also supports our earlier argument that the mysterious red rain of Kerala is due to the cometary delivery of the red spores into the stratosphere above Kerala.
FULL TEXT PDF
http://www.citebase.org/cgi-bin/fulltext?format=application/pdf&identifier=oai:arXiv.org:astro-ph/0312639
Well, of course it's possible. But there are far too many other important matters for people to concern themselves with. That's probably the problem with Washington. They think they've spotted extra terrestrials, so they spend most of their time on it, and do nothing about what REALLY matters...
This new biology proves our earlier hypothesis that these microbes are of extraterrestrial origin and also supports our earlier argument that the mysterious red rain of Kerala is due to the cometary delivery of the red spores into the stratosphere above Kerala.Actually, this is an overstatement by the researchers, because the only reported ET life was Gilbert Lewin's experiments conducted by the Viking landers on Mars back in the 1970s.
The Viking Labeled Release Experiment and Life on MarsThus, organic compounds surviving this rugged digestion were detected in the soil. They were attributed to kerogen and coal refractory to the GCMS pyrolysis. Biological possibilities were discounted although viable microorganisms have been reported (23) within anthracite coal taken from deep underground. The purpose of the intensive digestion of the Antarctic #726 was not stated. One must wonder what variety of labile organic compounds were present prior to the digestion.
by Gilbert V. Levin
If i remember correctly they wheren't unknown but turned out to be soil bacteria that most likely (ccording to the researcher) contaminated the samples before flight. However, these contamination apparently survived 175 degrees Celsius reintake heat.
That is quite a lot, here at the university laboratory where i am currently in an internship we sterilise at 160.
According to most textbooks, that is sufficient to kill all bacteria. Guess not.
LOL!
Nope:
"A fresh examination of the Viking Pyrolytic Release Experiment (PR) data26 supplies direct support for the formation and persistence of organic matter on Mars."
yep like yesterday ,The maximum cases of red rain occured in my native district kottayam.I was around at the time but did not notice it.But i am pretty sure i didnt hear a 'sonic boom'. A friend claims he still has got nearly half a bottle of it but i have never got to see it ;)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.