Jan. 5, 2006
Special to World Science
A paper to appear in a scientific journal claims a strange red rain might have dumped microbes from space onto Earth four years ago. But the report is meeting with a shower of skepticism from scientists who say extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof—and this one hasn’t got it.
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The particles at about 1000 times actual size (courtesy Godfrey Louis).
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The shaded area represents the state of Kerala in India. (Courtesy Nichalp)
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The scientists agree on two points, though. The things look like cells, at least superficially. And no one is sure what they are. “These particles have much similarity with biological cells though they are devoid of DNA,” wrote Godfrey Louis and A. Santhosh Kumar of Mahatma Gandhi University in Kottayam, India, in the controversial paper.
“Are these cell-like particles a kind of alternate life from space?”
The mystery began when the scarlet showers containing the red specks hit parts of India in 2001. Researchers said the particles might be dust or a fungus, but it remained unclear.
The new paper includes a chemical analysis of the particles, a description of their appearance under microscopes and a survey of where they fell. It assesses various explanations for them and concludes that the specks, which vaguely resemble red blood cells, might have come from a meteor.
Read more at World Science.net 
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