Evidence For Comet-Borne Microfossils Supports Panspermia 169
New submitter onyxruby writes "On December 29th of last year a comet exploded over Sri Lanka. When examined by Cardiff University one of the comet samples was found to contain micro-fossils akin to plankton. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center tested additional samples with similar results. The research paper was published in the Journal of Cosmology. In practice this means that the argument that life did not start on Earth has gained additional evidence."
Update: 03/12 16:59 GMT by S : On the other hand, Phil Plait says the paper is very flawed; the sample rocks the researchers tested may not even be meteorites.
Re:"Panspermia" (Score:5, Funny)
Isn't that something that mainly the Germans are into?
You're confusing Germans with satyrs.
Re:"Panspermia" (Score:2, Funny)
Isn't that something that mainly the Germans are into?
No, it's a meme of the Intelligent Designer retinue: The belief that the seeds of life are spewed throughout the Universe.
You know, like, in the beginning, the Intelligent Designer created the Heavens and the Earth, and then He wanked off all over them.
Re:Phil Plait says no... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:BA link (Score:5, Funny)
I can't help but laugh at the differences.
Slashdot-linked Register article...
Earth bombarded by interplanetary SLIME MONSTERS
We are not alone' is the message of Invasion of the Hystrichospheres
Invaders from an unknown planet entered Earth's atmosphere on December 29 last year, riding in a fiery comet that burst 10km above Sri Lanka.
Compared with Phil's article...
UPDATE: No, Life Has Still Not Been Found in a Meteorite
Oh boy. Here we go again, again.
In January, I wrote about Chandra Wickramasinghe, who claimed he had found fossilized diatoms (microscopic plant life) in a meteorite. I showed pretty carefully why this claim is very wrong, but apparently it wasn't enough: A new paper from Wickramasinghe's team has been published furthering the claims, and it's getting picked up by mainstream media.
I read the paper, and really it's more of the same as from the first paper. In some ways, it's even shakier;