New discovery - possible extraterrestrial life

[Spartan117]

Oh snap. Maybe they are darleks.

exterminate!! Exterminate!! Exterminate!!

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Ive lived with the firm belief that life exists in outer space (It exists here, and Earth after all is in 'outer space') for so long, that at this point, it would take a giant UFO crashing into the Whitehouse on live TV to surprise me.

 

[Winner]

Ive lived with the firm belief that life exists in outer space (It exists here, and Earth after all is in 'outer space') for so long, that at this point, it would take a giant UFO crashing into the Whitehouse on live TV to surprise me.

Well, one huge UFO crashed into the Capitol building in the Simpsons epizode "Citizen Kang". Does it count?

 

[Bozo Erectus]

D'OH! If a cartoon UFO crashed into the WH, that would be even more surprising.

 

[Che Guava]

My prediction: archea bacteria that actually live somwhere in the upper atmosphere of earth in vapour clouds....

 

[Godwynn]

So if a requirement to be life is that an organism must be able to reproduce on its own without a host, does this mean a virus is not a living thing?

 

[VoodooAce]

water taken from the mysterious blood-colored showers that fell sporadically across Louis's home state of Kerala in the summer of 2001

What's up with this? I didn't hear about it at the time. Can anyone shed some light on the 'blood colored showers'?

 

[blackheart]

What's up with this? I didn't hear about it at the time. Can anyone shed some light on the 'blood colored showers'?

Here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_rain_in_Kerala

 

[Sahkuhnder]

What's up with this? I didn't hear about it at the time. Can anyone shed some light on the 'blood colored showers'?

That sounds kind of ominous.

Isn't 'blood colored showers' a sign of the apocalypse or something?

Should I stop contributing to my retirement fund and just start hosting huge parties instead?

 

[Sidhe]

From New Scientist magazine.

Now that Milton Wainwright and his colleagues have confirmed that the Indian "red rain" cells contain DNA, it seems most likely that they are algae, and as he suggests in his letter, are not in the least mysterious, despite the date it was published (1 April, p 12 and p 25).

Researchers in Kerala suggest that the red rain could be cells of a red-pigmented green alga, Trentepohlia, but there are other likely candidates. The green algal genus Haematococcus is a member of the motile order Volvocales which forms spores and resting-stage "palmella" structures, both enclosed by thick cell walls, and very similar to the pictures that you published. The cells are strongly red-coloured by the carotenoid pigment astaxanthin, formerly called haematochrome.

One species, Haematococcus pluvialis, occurs in ephemeral rain pools and its specific name means "of rain". In arid environments, water or dust containing the cells may be picked ...

and

There appears to be an increasing tendency among scientists to come up with wild explanations when asked by the press to comment on unusual, novel phenomena. A good example is provided by comments about the recent Indian red rain phenomenon (4 March, p 34).

Red rain is morphologically similar to fungal spores or algae, as I have recently been able to confirm by microscope analysis of samples. There is no evidence that I am aware of to support suggestions that red rain is dust, sand, fat globules or blood.

Researchers in Kerala suggest that the red rain could be cells of a red-pigmented green alga, Trentepohlia, but there are other likely candidates. The green algal genus Haematococcus is a member of the motile order Volvocales which forms spores and resting-stage "palmella" structures, both enclosed by thick cell walls, and very similar to the pictures that you published. The cells are strongly red-coloured by the carotenoid pigment astaxanthin, formerly called haematochrome.

One species, Haematococcus pluvialis, occurs in ephemeral rain pools and its specific name means "of rain". In arid environments, water or dust containing the cells may be picked up by mini-tornadoes, the usually acknowledged source of bizarre objects such as the froglets, snails, small fish and other creatures deposited in storm showers.

From Guy Cox, University of Sydney

Hazel Muir presents an electron micrograph and asks, "Does it look alien to you?" Having spent quite a lot of time over the past 30 years working on cyanobacteria, the answer has to be, "No, not at all."

It looks very like a cyanobacterium (blue-green alga) of the genus Gloeocapsa or Gloeothece. In this case the red colour would come from c-phycoerythrin and there would also be absorption from chlorophyll. These both absorb strongly at wavelengths reasonably close to the reported figures. The "unusual" cell wall (or sheath) is quite typical of these genera and gives them amazing tolerance to drying: they can live just about anywhere. I have not, however, found any previous references to them living in clouds.

Sydney, Australia

It seems to me that this is generally debunked as a space phenomena but again believe what you will.

 

[Willowmound]

So now they have DNA? The CNN article was written 2 June, that first New Scientist quote you say is from 1 April. So CNN stuffed up? (Again?)

 

[Sidhe]

Not everyone subscribes to scientific literature.

ET life sells I supose.

 

[Willowmound]

Not checking your facts tends to get you fired as a journalist.

 

[woody60707]

You know, if god made life here, who is to say that the devil didn't make life somewhere else (creepy sound effct /on)

 

[warpus]

You know, if god made life here, who is to say that the devil didn't make life somewhere else (creepy sound effct /on)

Or what if St. Basil of Caesarea sneaked into God's lab and we are his creation?

 

[Shylock]

Reminds me of the song "Raining Blood" by Slayer.

And oceans get the same way, I was at the beach once and the waves turned red. It is due to algae.

 

[Odin2006]

They're air-borne algae, not ET. I'm sceptical of the claim they have no DNA.

 

[SupremeC]

Maybe they only have RNA. Like HIV(I think)