NASA may have found evidence to support alien life exists?

[acd]

http://dvice.com/archives/2011/03/nasa-researcher.php

Late on Friday, the Journal of Cosmology (a free but peer-reviewed scholarly journal) published a paper on their website by NASA astrobiologist Dr. Richard B. Hoover that showcases a variety of microscopic fossilized structures from inside meteorites that are possibly the remains of extraterrestrial bacteria. Aliens, for real.

Obviously, if these structures prove to be the actual remains of alien bacteria, this is incredibly huge news. We're talking one of the most significant discoveries in human history, proving that life (in some form) is not only not unique to Earth, but in fact likely prevalent throughout our solar system on comets and moons and likely just as prevalent across the tens or hundreds of billions of other planetary bodies in our galaxy. It also implies that life itself probably didn't originate on Earth, but probably came here from space. It's absolutely mind blowing.

So here's the deal on what Dr. Hoover found. He sterilized, and then cut open a bunch of carbonaceous chondrite meteorites, which are meteorites that tend to contain lots of water and organic material like amino acids. Hoover then examined the freshly exposed insides of the meteorites with an electron microscope, and inside he found lots (lots) of what he says seem to be 'indigenous fossils' of bacteria. Many of the fossils were embedded directly in the rock, and the lack of nitrogen in them makes it unlikely they they came from Earth, according to Hoover. So in this case, 'indigenous' means that the bacteria may have arrived on Earth along with the meteorite: natively, they'd be aliens. ALIENS!

What's particularly interesting about these fossils is that a lot of them are very familiar looking. Specifically, they look a lot like terrestrial cyanobacteria, which are arguably the most successful and resilient form of life on Earth. There's also a lot of them that are "just very strange," according to Hoover.

Pretty much the entire scientific community is, understandably, extremely skeptical about this news, considering what it implies, the fact that such claims have been made before, and the more likely (but less exciting) explanations that the structures are either not bacteria or are of terrestrial origin. The paper, in its entirety, has been published online, and is currently being vetted by 100 experts and 5,000 other scientists. All of their reactions and commentary will also be published online in the next few days. According to the journal, "no other paper in the history of science has undergone such a thorough vetting, and never before in the history of science has the scientific community been given the opportunity to critically analyze an important research paper before it is published." So at this point, we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

In the gallery below are a selection of images of the hypothesized alien bacterial fossils, along with images of similar terrestrial bacteria. The image captions are directly from the paper. These structures may not look like much, but just remember, you could be looking at the first ever pictures of actual alien life.

I want to believe!

Click the link to view the photos of what was found.

 

[TheLastMohican]

It also implies that life itself probably didn't originate on Earth, but probably came here from space.

Uh, no, it really doesn't. We're nowhere close to being able to assign such probabilities; we don't even know what kind of genetic structure these bacteria might have had (if they are indeed fossilized life).

 

[Raccoon Love]

Uh, no, it really doesn't. We're nowhere close to being able to assign such probabilities; we don't even know what kind of genetic structure these bacteria might have had (if they are indeed fossilized life).

I don't think it goes against the possibility though...it will be interesting to see what we find in this bacteria.

 

[Saru Inc]

Uh, no, it really doesn't. We're nowhere close to being able to assign such probabilities; we don't even know what kind of genetic structure these bacteria might have had (if they are indeed fossilized life).

true.


and all this bibble babble is making me go wonkers. who cares.

 

[acd]

I agree with you there @TheLastMohican I don't think it necessarily implies that.

If they aren't fossilized life, what could it be?
The articles I've read say some of the fossils resemble some bacteria on earth..

@saru
I care. I think that if what has been found is actually life from outside of this planet, it would be one of the most important discoveries in human history.

I'm excited to read the commentary on this finding from other scientists.

 

[Saru Inc]

I didn't literally mean "who cares." I meant "I don't care." It's a phrase.


And because alien life is not a priority on my list, I couldn't care less about that.

 

[Puck]

Well.. it is kind of exciting. I didn't know you could get fossils of bacteria. It's almost like alien boogers.

 

[bickelz]

The articles I've read say it resembles some bacteria on earth..

How the hell would the bacteria be able to leave the planet and then come back? If this is bacteria, then it came from somewhere other than earth, assuming this isn't BS science this guy is pulling.

It sounds like there is a possibility of a place much like that of earth somewhere out there if the bacteria are so similar. He also mentioned that there were some "weird" things going on with the structures and stuff, implying that it's not native to earth.

This would be the most important discovery in human history if the skeptics decide that it is credible.

 

[acd]

I didn't literally mean "who cares." I meant "I don't care." It's a phrase.


And because alien life is not a priority on my list, I couldn't care less about that.

Ok get out of this thread then. Just kidding but
Seriously. :-D

This is interesting and I'd prefer it if people who were interested in the subject and knew what they were talking about participated because I'd like to learn something here.

 

[Saru Inc]

Ok get out of this thread then. Just kidding but
Seriously. :-D

This is interesting and I'd prefer it if people who were interested in the subject and knew what they were talking about participated because I'd like to learn something here.

Yay for emoticons.

 

[TheLastMohican]

If they aren't fossilized life, what could it be?
The articles I've read say some of the fossils resemble some bacteria on earth..

They could be irregularities of the rock. Considering the geometrically simple and widely varying structures of bacteria, it's not surprising that we have found bits of rock that resemble one kind or another. (There was a very similar case in 1996 with the Martian meteorite.)

The analysis will no doubt be more cautious and thorough this time around, certainly worth following. But since we cannot draw a very detailed life structure from the fossils in any case, I doubt that this will reach closure anytime soon. And even if we do decide that bacteria were fossilized there, it won't help us much until we start figuring out where the meteorite might have originated and where we might be able to find more of these things.

 

[bickelz]

They could be irregularities of the rock. Considering the geometrically simple and widely varying structures of bacteria, it's not surprising that we have found bits of rock that resemble one kind or another. (There was a very similar case in 1996 with the Martian meteorite.)

The analysis will no doubt be more cautious and thorough this time around, certainly worth following. But since we cannot draw a very detailed life structure from the fossils in any case, I doubt that this will reach closure anytime soon. And even if we do decide that bacteria were fossilized there, it won't help us much until we start figuring out where the meteorite might have originated and where we might be able to find more of these things.

You should look at the pictures in the link that were in the study. They were kind of funky looking bacteria.

 

[TheLastMohican]

You should look at the pictures in the link that were in the study. They were kind of funky looking bacteria.

I did look at the pictures. Funky? No, they were pretty normal-looking as bacteria go.

 

[Griffin]

Alien life! WOO!

 

[bickelz]

I did look at the pictures. Funky? No, they were pretty normal-looking as bacteria go.

Ok, so I'm not a bio major and I don't really know what "normal" looks like for most bacteria but just because they look like they could be from earth doesn't mean that they are. It's possible for another planet to have similar conditions to ours.

And anyways, how would earth's bacteria leave and then come back?

 

[TheLastMohican]

Ok, so I'm not a bio major and I don't really know what "normal" looks like for most bacteria but just because they look like they could be from earth doesn't mean that they are.

Right, as I said, they might just be unusual bits of rock, not fossils.

It's possible for another planet to have similar conditions to ours.

Yes, some do. That is in part why it seems very likely that alien life exists.

And anyways, how would earth's bacteria leave and then come back?

I don't think anyone is suggesting that.

 

[myself]

I wouldn't be surprised to find that there are billions of other earth like planets with life existing very much like we exist.

Also, it wouldn't surprise me to discover that life on this planet was seeded.

Wouldn't surprise me if our entire universe was just some small part of a great being.

The scale of space/time is infinitely big and infinitely small...

Considering the probability, I'd be willing to bet that some other conscious beings are currently existing outside of our planet.

It'll be nice when the knowledge sinks in and people realize their greater purpose/significance.

Greater purpose than dying with the most toys, raping and pillaging, etc...

 

[uuu]

Aliens are great, but I think this is just a classic example of the media overhyping things. I'll keep an eye out to see if more studies like this pop up, but in the meantime, one stray rock with a little worm in it doesn't excite me.

 

[Flavus Aquila]

If indeed there turns out to be bacteria in the sample - and a bigger if - if some small molecular samples remain - I'll be interested to know if the main principle of the theory of evolutional convergence would apply in respect of life emergence.

ie. Would alien microscopic life have any significant similarities with terrestrial microscopic life?

* Similar cell membranes?
* Similar protein-like molecules?
* A genetic system like terrestrial life?
* Etc.

 

[Phoenix Down]

Uh, no, it really doesn't. We're nowhere close to being able to assign such probabilities; we don't even know what kind of genetic structure these bacteria might have had (if they are indeed fossilized life).

Aliens are great, but I think this is just a classic example of the media overhyping things. I'll keep an eye out to see if more studies like this pop up, but in the meantime, one stray rock with a little worm in it doesn't excite me.

SHHHHHHHHH! NASA needs funding.
Hype -> interest -> Support -> funding

WE NEED NEW SHUTTLES!