BookTalk.org

Maybe..;

http://news.sky.com/story/1143906/alien ... atmosphere

from the article;

"If life does continue to arrive from space then we have to completely change our view of biology and evolution," Prof Wainwright added. "New textbooks will have to be written."



Just how much it would change our theories of biology and evolution would more than likely be totally unknowable

That's fun stuff. I hope we find that life can exist in space, but I wonder why they're so sure it couldn't have been from Earth's surface.

"Our conclusion then is that life is continually arriving to Earth from space, life is not restricted to this planet and it almost certainly did not originate here."

How can they conclude it most certainly didn't originate here? As if transpermia is the only possible conclusion after what they've found. I think their peers need to slap them around a bit.

i agree thats too conclusive far too early into this.

I think its highly likely life here was seeded.
it only pushes our questions about origins further out of our reach.

the cosmos may be just to vast for us.
we are stranded on a little island.

"Our conclusion then is that life is continually arriving to Earth from space, life is not restricted to this planet and it almost certainly did not originate here."

I think someone just set a new record for scientific conclusion jumping. Instead of postulating extra-terrestrial origin of life theories, the scientists should be running extensive tests on the samples, and comparing their DNA with known Earth organisms. If they turn out to be truly alien, that would be a remarkable discovery. However, I do not believe it would prove the latter part of the above quote. On the other hand, if the 'new' organisms prove to be identical (or very similar) to known Earth life forms, the more likely explanation is that they are native to our home world.

I will await further developments with interest.

Maybe this microorganism they found was carried by the balloon before it went up or it could have been picked up while the balloon was rising. I would bet on earthly contamination before I would conclude that this was a bug from outer space.
I do agree with Cattleman that they need to do a DNA analysis to prove that it is an unknown earthly life form.

This is generally the problem with science news reporting. There's very little to go on here, but the conclusion seems to not be supported by the evidence. Who's jumping to conclusions here? The scientist or the reporter?

yes i agree with you.
sounds like bad reporting and reckless speculation.
but im with Interbane here. its fun to imagine here, mostly.
thats mainly why i posted this.

Don't know if the news is right or wrong but we all book lovers enjoying reading books about aliens and their time travel which makes us believe that alien exist. Few books like A CASE OF CONSCIENCE , WAY STATION , THIS IMMORTAL , THE GODS THEMSELVES , THE FOREVER WAR helps us to realize science fiction and its existence.

yeah, these guys have a lot of research to do before they claim it's alien life. They said it probably has DNA... which means they haven't successfully looked at a strand of DNA from these samples, so they don't know what it is yet except that they found it high in the air.

We don't typically spend a whole lot of time up there, so i'm betting there is a TON that we don't know about what's possible up there and it is pretty reckless to assert alien origin.

These may be just some new variant of extremophile.

Well, they will take it back a notch after the peer review gut-punch comes through.

For the speculation part:

Now if there were life just floating around in empty space, that would be way awesome!

That would mean life's extremophile edges are far more robust than we had imagined (if they are actually living in space), and plants the kernal that there might even proabably be life on EVERY planet with suitable conditions. It might just waft in from space.

I know it has been observed that there are vast clouds of organic compounds in space, but those are chemicals that can be constructed without biology. Finding actual cells floating around in space would be another thing.

Another thing, how long do you think we should wait before we try to terraform mars?

How much digging, how much research, how many years after we actually get there do we have to wait before we introduce earth-native extremophiles to mars?

I am of the opinion that we need to seed life wherever it might take root. IF mars is dead, but COULD harbor some life, i think it's our duty to make sure we put it there.

what do you think?

and the trampling begins...

http://www.blastr.com/2013-9-20/astrono ... red-aliens

man, i hope these guys who "concluded" they found alien life have got career alternatives lined up, because i think they have put their heads on the chopping block with this one.

You don't want a guy like this working at CERN, yapping to the press that you've proven that string theory is correct, when it's nothing but his fondest dreams of what he HOPES to prove...

Sorry, we aren't hiring...