NASA scientist publishes paper on finding proof of extra-terrestrial life

[Elandyll]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/digitaltrend...nceofalienlife

Ok, i'll summarize:
Dr. Richard B. Hoover, an astrobiologist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center says in a new paper published in the Journal of Cosmology this past Friday that after having studied 9 rare classes of meteorites (Cl1 class, only 9 exist on Earth that we know of) he has found definite traces of fossilized bacterias - of alien origin.
His main point is that the fossils found are actually older than the meteorite itself (its entry in our planet) and that although most of the bacterias seem familiar, a few have not been able to be recognized at all.

After reading this, well i have to say i am not all that surprised. -If finding true- I already knew that the first trace of Alien life would probably be of microbial/ bacterial type.
It is still huge though, and is of course under an immense scrutiny. The research has been opened to a panel of over 100 experts and they have invited more than 5000 scientists across the globe to participate.

At first I thought: well, those could have been absorbed by a porous meteorite during Earth entry, specially if it fell in the water a few thousand years ago.
But if the bacteria fossils are indeed much older than the Earth atmosphere entry, it is pretty damning.
Opens even more curiosity, as some articles have mentioned, to the possibility of life (micro organisms) on asteroids, comets and on the satellites in our very own solar system.

Also can't help thinking about The Andromeda Strain at the same time ...

[Morrissey]

Originally Posted by Elandyll

http://news.yahoo.com/s/digitaltrend...nceofalienlife

Ok, i'll summarize:
Dr. Richard B. Hoover, an astrobiologist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center says in a new paper published in the Journal of Cosmology this past Friday that after having studied 9 rare classes of meteorites (Cl1 class, only 9 exist on Earth that we know of) he has found definite traces of fossilized bacterias - of alien origin.
His main point is that the fossils found are actually older than the meteorite itself (its entry in our planet) and that although most of the bacterias seem familiar, a few have not been able to be recognized at all.

After reading this, well i have to say i am not all that surprised. -If finding true- I already knew that the first trace of Alien life would probably be of microbial/ bacterial type.
It is still huge though, and is of course under an immense scrutiny. The research has been opened to a panel of over 100 experts and they have invited more than 5000 scientists across the globe to participate.

At first I thought: well, those could have been absorbed by a porous meteorite during Earth entry, specially if it fell in the water a few thousand years ago.
But if the bacteria fossils are indeed much older than the Earth atmosphere entry, it is pretty damning.
Opens even more curiosity, as some articles have mentioned, to the possibility of life (micro organisms) on asteroids, comets and on the satellites in our very own solar system.

Also can't help thinking about The Andromeda Strain at the same time ...

Very cool, it's too bad that truly important news stories like this are buried by 'Charlie Sheen' type headlines.

[master_8ball]

Whats even more neat is that life on earth could have been started by such things...

[Marcus Wright]

If it is proven that micro level/primitive life exists and it did actually get a chance to somehow get to our planet (through this asteroit) than this is very big news because

1) It answers very old question by saying that life does indeed exist outside our planet, even if only in primitive way.

2) If primitive bacteria fossils did actually get a chance to somehow get to our planet (through this asteroit) than chances are 100% that a life even more advanced than ours exists.

[Tom Hiddleston]

I think the best proof of extra-terrestrial life is that they have not tried to contact us.

[MaCruz]

Originally Posted by Marcus Wright

If it is proven that micro level/primitive life exists and it did actually get a chance to somehow get to our planet (through this asteroit) than this is very big news because

1) It answers very old question by saying that life does indeed exist outside our planet, even if only in primitive way.

2) If primitive bacteria fossils did actually get a chance to somehow get to our planet (through this asteroit) than chances are 100% that a life even more advanced than ours exists.

You mean asteroid right?

[Marcus Wright]

Originally Posted by MaCruz

You mean asteroid right?

I mean the asteroid that they just found for my second point.

[tilallr1]

Yeah, NASA is actually disputing his claims. The guy doesn't know what he is talking about. He isn't even an astrobiology expert.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/2...ims/index.html

NASA Disputes Researcher's Alien Microbe Claims

Claims from a NASA scientist that alien microbes were discovered in meteorites collected decades ago are being disputed by scientists at the US space agency, who say that there is no empirical evidence that the objects contained bacteria from outer space.
As first reported by Fox News on Friday, Dr. Richard B. Hoover of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama alleges that he has discovered fossil evidence of bacterial life in a rare class of meteorites known as CI1 carbonaceous chondrites. Hoover believed that the discovery of the microbes was proof that "life is more broadly distributed than restricted strictly to the planet Earth."
On Monday, however, his NASA colleagues argued against his findings, which were published online in the Journal of Cosmology on Friday.
"That is a claim that Mr. Hoover has been making for some years," Carl Pilcher, director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI), told AFP reporter Kerry Sheridan. "I am not aware of any support from other meteorite researchers for this rather extraordinary claim that this evidence of microbes was present in the meteorite before the meteorite arrived on Earth and was not the result of contamination after the meteorite arrived on Earth."
"The simplest explanation is that there are microbes in the meteorites; they are Earth microbes. In other words, they are contamination," Pilcher said, adding that since the meteorites studied by Hoover are fell to the Earth's surface between 100 and 200 years ago and had been previously handled by humans, "you would expect to find microbes" within them.
According to AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein, however, Hoover noted within his research paper that chemical analysis had rule contamination unlikely.
In addition to the question of contamination, however, Borenstein's methods and expertise, as well as several other factors surrounding the research, have been called into question by his colleagues.
In a statement released Monday, Paul Hertz, chief scientist at the NASA Science Mission Directorate (SAD) in Washington, said that Hoover's paper had not been peer-reviewed or "thoroughly examined by other qualified experts," and that the research in question had previously been submitted to the International Journal of Astrobiology in 2007 but had not completed the peer review process at that time.
Borenstein also notes that "scientists inside and outside the space agency… say that Hoover works in solar physics and doesn't have expertise in astrobiology," thus further damning his research.
Those claims have been dismissed by the journal's editor in chief, Rudy Schild, who according to the AP posted a statement online calling Hoover "a highly respected scientist and astrobiologist with a prestigious record of accomplishment" during his career at the American space agency.
Borenstein also reports that another NASA astrobiologist, David Morrison, said that Hoover's work had fallen, in the AP reporter's words, "far short of good science" and also criticized the journal in which this research had been published.
"If Hoover wants to be taken seriously by the community of astrobiologists, he needs to publish this in a real journal and to respond to the criticisms from other scientists," Morrison told the AP via e-mail. "That is the way science advances."

[Elandyll]

The interesting point is that they are disputing "where" he posted his research, and make general points (if a earth type bacteria is found then it comes from earth and contamination).
Seems more like a knee jerk response than a scientific rebuttal imo.

We will see, supposedly the findings have been submitted to peer review (100 specialists and 5000+ scientists). Maybe the guys interviewed today were peed off to not have ben consulted -prior- to publishing?

Again, not saying that he -did- find ET bacterias, but:

- The guy says the fossils are older than the meteorite (to be confirmed)
- Some of the bacteria fossils could not be identified

Now I wonder how long the peer review process is, and if there won't be a gov cover -if- the findings are, well, accurate (and no, I'm not a conspiracy theorist )