So the methane organismsdiscovered in that hostile niggling lakein California were n’t such a liberal deal after all . No harm , no foul — they were at the very least interesting . Interesting , but nothing like this : Dr. Richard Hoover , as astrobiologist with NASA ’s Marshall Space Flight Center , claims he ’s found alien life .
NASA Finds New Life ( Updated )
Real alien life history . Not weird Earthbound extremophiles or hints of the building blocks of life story that are really just errant specks of dust on the lens of a telescope . living , and not of this Earth .
If Dr. Hoover ’s paper detailing the find holds up to scrutiny , we can last , truly say it : We are not alone .
Rare Find, Common Life
So what , exactly , did Dr. Hoover find ? It ’s pretty mind - blowing , actually : take within nine super rarified meteorites called CI1 carbonous chondrites he discovered what he trust are the fossil of common bacteria that ’s both similar and nothing like what exists on our planet . In summation to being exceedingly rare , these meteorite are also some of the one-time in our solar organization .
“ The exciting thing is that they are in many case recognizable and can be associated very closely with the generic metal money here on earth , ” said Hoover inan interview with Yahoo News . Some of the fogey , however , are quite odd . “ There are some that are just very unknown and do n’t reckon like anything that I ’ve been able to describe , and I ’ve shown them to many other expert that have also descend up stump . ”
More specifically , Hoover claims to have discovered traces of filaments and remnant of algae - like organism call up cyanobacteria . Another discovery was standardised to a bacterium call Titanospirillum velox . They were very Earth - like and routine save for one important conflict : They lack atomic number 7 .
This caveat is authoritative , as the lack of nitrogen bespeak the samples are “ the clay of extraterrestrial life forms that grow on the parent bodies of the meteorite when liquified water was present , long before the meteorites entered the Earth ’s atmosphere , ” he said .
A Good and Proper Vetting
Hoover is being incredibly open about his theme . As state above , compeer scrutiny has already begun , to the tune of 100 expert who have embark on dissecting his employment in rise of its official publication . A broader , more general invitation was issued to a further 5,000 scientists as well , make this one of the most vet scientific papers ever . This vetting is a honorable affair , as Hoover has made claims like this before with other meteorites that ultimately did not pan out .
Should the composition have got up , however , the game is well and truly commute . We are not just “ not alone , ” we are common .
Update : Counterclaims calling the journal a joke and the science suspecthave already start .
No , exotic spirit was not discovered this weekend
Update 2 : Bad Astronomy , a blog I read often due to its insightful generator and blot - on commentary , debunks this newsworthiness even more . suspiration . [ Yahoo News , The Guardian ]
AliensdiscoveriesmeteoritesNASAScience
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