The Journal of Cosmology is currently running an article about the discovery of a fossil - on a meteorite (Vol. 13, March 2011; Hat tip: @swadeshine). Feel free to reread that sentence. The article is by Richard B. Hoover, Ph.D. NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center, who works on Astrobiology and Solar Physics. The journal's article synopsis states: "We believe Dr. Hoover's careful analysis provides definitive evidence of ancient microbial life on astral bodies some of which may predate the origin of Earth and this solar system."
From the journal's site:
Fossils of Cyanobacteria in CI1 Carbonaceous Meteorites
Synopsis
Dr. Hoover has discovered evidence of microfossils similar to Cyanobacteria, in freshly fractured slices of the interior surfaces of the Alais, Ivuna, and Orgueil CI1 carbonaceous meteorites. Based on Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) and other measures, Dr. Hoover has concluded they are indigenous to these meteors and are similar to trichomic cyanobacteria and other trichomic prokaryotes such as filamentous sulfur bacteria. He concludes these fossilized bacteria are not Earthly contaminants but are the fossilized remains of living organisms which lived in the parent bodies of these meteors, e.g. comets, moons, and other astral bodies. The implications are that life is everywhere, and that life on Earth may have come from other planets.
Members of the Scientific community were invited to analyze the results and to write critical commentaries or to speculate about the implications. These commentaries will be published on March 7 through March 10, 2011.
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Official Statement from Dr. Rudy Schild,Center for Astrophysics, Harvard-Smithsonian,Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Cosmology.
... Dr. Richard Hoover is a highly respected scientist and astrobiologist with a prestigious record of accomplishment at NASA. Given the controversial nature of his discovery, we have invited 100 experts and have issued a general invitation to over 5000 scientists from the scientific community to review the paper and to offer their critical analysis. Our intention is to publish the commentaries, both pro and con, alongside Dr. Hoover's paper. In this way, the paper will have received a thorough vetting, and all points of view can be presented.
For a recent book on the 'maverick' science of Astrobiology, see David Darling's Life Everywhere.
Addendum: NASA is distancing itself from Hoover's article, see here (8 March 2011).
Addendum: NASA is distancing itself from Hoover's article, see here (8 March 2011).
Space Madness!
ReplyDeleteYeah... but have you looked at what else the "Journal" of Cosmology publishes? I use the quotation marks, because it is not actually a Journal at all, but purely an online publication.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, it looks like it has an agenda. Now, Dr. Hoover's article does look pretty comprehensively researched, and reasonably solid. And I for one would welcome this kind of discovery being validated by the scientific community at large. But if he couldn't get it published in a proper, respected journal, then I do have to wonder about the strength of the paper.
@5tephe *Laughing* - there's a reason I put Ren and Stimpy in space at the head of this post!
ReplyDeleteSpace Madness:
http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/animation/watch/v14085830Cq24yFjf
Healthy skepticism about the wild ideas floating around on the internet, whether in respectable or less respectable quarters, is always warranted. And you'll note that I put in the addendum that NASA is tip toeing away from the Journal of Cosmology and Hoover. As for the synopsis of this article, I find it rather odd just at a glance (not having read the article or the science behind Hoover's claims) that bacteria might leave fossil traces. But supposing they do, it is not implausible that there might be bacteria out there in the wide realm of space. And sure, there might even be traces of them on space rocks. BUT there's absolutely no reason why Hoover should make the connecting mental jump that therefore we are descended from similar space-derived organisms that fell to Earth and sparked the onset of life on this planet. The whole report is characteristic of how wild ideas are floating around and being falsely connected to imply causation in spurious circumstances. In that regard, it's a good example of the Zeitgeist. But as for proving that we are extra-terrestrials - no, that's not what this is all about.