British scientist think they've found life that originates from space

[TheJCBand]

An article that came out today: The truth IS out there: British scientists claim to have found proof of alien life - Science - News - The Independent

The basic summary is they sent a balloon up to the upper atmosphere to collect samples. It returned with unusual particles that the scientists believe are living (or once-living) organisms. They claim there's no mechanism by which such organisms could have got there from Earth, so they most likely came from a comet. They mentioned in "an earlier experiment" they found similar particles which contained DNA, which implies if the life forms did come from space that all life on Earth originated from space (because it's highly improbable that DNA would evolve twice independently). Apparently there is a counter argument that the particles could have come from a volcanic eruption. The man who found the particles argues that debris from the last volcanic eruption (I think the Iceland one?) would have settled by now. The results are published in a scientific journal, however the article mentions this journal has had its reputation "called into question more than once".

 

[TheJCBand]

Found an article from 2010 by the scientist who makes the claim (Milton Wainwright) in the same journal (Journal of Cosmology): Journal of Cosmology

Definitely looks a little bit less than legitimate. However, the journal editors all have good credentials. Jury's still out for me.

 

[Goggs Mackay]

Everyone knows the theory relating to UFO truth that the public might be acclimatised over a time to reduce the shock and upset of absolute proof of life elsewhere?
Well, what have we had confirmed quite recently? Extra-Solar possibly habitable planets in the Goldilox zone, scientists just the other week (poss JPL?) saying that Earthly life may have originated on Mars as it was in a better place, biochemically to do so, before the Earth - and now we have claims from scientists of possible life high up in the atmosphere that had no mechanism to have come from the surface.

We know how UFO-shy mainstream scientists are but in the last few years we seem to at the very least be making discoveries or leaps of thinking that come closer and closer to confirming that life must and does exist elsewhere.

I predict the next step in this chain, if it is indeed a controlled-release of info, to be that definitive evidence of previous life on Mars will be announced and then sometime after, current microbial life on Mars to be confirmed.

I reckon many people don't take much notice of this stuff outside certain interested scientists and of course 'us lot' - but to me it is fascinating as the one thing we are definitely not doing, is going in the direction of proving there is no life elsewhere!

Watch this space friends!

 

[ALPHA ROMEO UNIFORM]

Goggs,
Yeah then tell us we not alone and the elite have jumped ship?? as they open Pandora's box for telling those ETs where we are!!

 

[Rizla]

Thanks for the share, JCB, and why this isn't being more talked about, no clue!

 

[boomerang]

I'm wondering if these scientists are devotees of the late astrophysicist Fred Hoyle. Hoyle (in addition to being a brilliant physicist) was a strong advocate for panspermia. Given the relative ease of launching near space missions by balloon, this experiment is absolutely worth replicating.

A somewhat related topic: What the eff' are the experts saying about the presence or absence of methane on Mars? I thought the presence of methane there was a long established fact. Now JPL is downplaying the likelihood of Martian life based on Rover's inability to find methane. Color me confused and suspicious:

Curiosity Rover Finds No Methane On Mars. What’s Happening?

 

[Jimi H.]

I'm wondering if these scientists are devotees of the late astrophysicist Fred Hoyle. Hoyle (in addition to being a brilliant physicist) was a strong advocate for panspermia. ...

Indeed, it is Hoyle's former student Chandra Wickramasinghe who continued championing the theory of Panspermia.

BBC's documentary We are the aliens explains the theory and the evidence that Chandra claimed to have at the time (red rain), concerning alien lifeforms transported to Earth by meteors.

My impression from speaking to an astronomer about Chandra is that he has some interesting theories, but that many think that he's a bit too quick to claim to have evidence of alien life.

Personally, I've been intrigued by the theory for the last few years, but I'm not qualified to either discount it or show that it's been proven.

NASA-related scientists previously claimed to have found such evidence in a meteor back in 1996, but they were battered by collegues who would not allow that the petrified artifacts were not just mineral deposits. It was a big deal at the time.
Check: Meteorite Yields Evidence of Primitive Life on Early Mars

 

[boomerang]

By golly, those structures may be just mineral deposits. But they really really look like microscopic life.

 

[Jimi H.]

By golly, those structures may be just mineral deposits. But they really really look like microscopic life.

They do, and I'm sure many think they are! If only it had legs or something, then it would be easier to determine