alien microbe discovered in sri lanka

[delta0]

You aren't going to get DNA from a fossils though.
Be more interesting once it's peer reviewed and more information on it.
The lack of news and big names makes me even more wary.

Remember the NASA meteorite, that was plastered all over the news and once peer reviewed, there's a chance that it was formed without life.

No definitely not. It does need to be reviewed and does seem like an early statement.

NASA did some great work proving microbes can survive direct exposure to the space environment. Vacuum, cold, heat etc. was no problem. They showed the direct exposure to the radiation shortened their lives, microbes within a rock are much more protected and so the radiation damage is low. This has allowed the theory that life on Earth could have come from space, or at least life can transfer from planet to planet through meteor impacts.

 

[Duff-Man]

All living creatures (inc. humans) on Earth have a set of common areas in their DNA that match. Establishing the DNA of the microbe and being absolutely certain that the microbe could not have entered the rock whilst on Earth would contribute to one of two situations. Either that life on Earth came from space (i.e. shared DNA with microbe), or there are other strains of DNA out there.

Microbes survive space quite easily so life hitching a ride on a meteorite (formed from a planet with life that was hit by a meteor) is easily done.

Not when the microbe is fossilised...



The guy who commented on the article also has a point:

Isn’t it possible that this is actually terrestrial diatomaceous earth from the [Cretaceous] Yucatan Peninsula, blasted off this planet by the Mesozoic-ending impact, and finally in-falling back to Earth?

Finally: I would *love* to see hard evidence of extra-terrestrial microbes, and I believe panspermia to be a pretty viable theory (though I personally prefer the idea that the evolution of life is a natural consequence of the correct elements existing in a suitable environment, for which there is plenty of evidence; e.g. this). Still, I would wait for confirmation from a slightly more reputable source. There have been plenty of "false alarm" reports of microbes in meteorites previously. If this discovery holds up to rigorous scrutiny and becomes established scientific fact, it will be huge news.

 

[olivier renault]

I remain skeptic.

Might be, might not be, who know where this rock originated from, its age, ect... Sure worth investigating. I doubt it is an hoax though.

 

[SexyGreyFox]

So can we all agree that this is not a lolkwerk post?

 

[d_brennen]

Not when the microbe is fossilised...

And freeze dried. And irradiated...

 

[scrlk]

lolkwerk

FIRST


also


"The cosmic ancestry of humans becomes ever more securely established.”

What? Because you found a microbe in a space rock we are 'securely establishing' our place of origin in the universe?

lolscientist

lolkwerk


Second

GD ****posting at it's finest here people.

 

[olivier renault]

All I can find are links to junk science / conspiracy websites and forums. Looks like nobody is taking it seriously, especially considering the agenda and many priors behind their publications. Hell, I bet even BBC Horizon is giving it a wide berth.

So yeah, sounds more like bunk / fraud than anything else.

 

[Biohazard]

So can we all agree that this is not a lolkwerk post?

lolkwerk

Wot a rebel I iz!

 

[delta0]

And freeze dried. And irradiated...

NASA have shown microbes can survive direct exposure to space. Radiation is the only thing that shortens their life. However the rock would act as a shield.

 

[Antar Bolaeisk]

And freeze dried. And irradiated...

We'd also have to assume that that one rock where the bacteria or whatever just so happened to be in the right position to survive all the hazards of an interstellar journey managed to crash into the only viable planet in the solar system at just the right angle to not be vaporised or bounced back into space. That or every rock zipping about in the sky contains the building blocks of life.

Though I could possibly accept panspermia originating from the calamitous impact which resulted in the moon.

I think it much more likely the terrestrial life originated on this planet.