Panspermia scientists say: We have evidence that Earth was seeded by ET during India’s 2001 red rain
Filed under: India
Topics covered : Forteana, Weirdness
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In the world of paranormal phenomenon (broadly categorized as “forteana” on this and other websites), rarely does one hear about the followup investigations. The media are always happy to publish wacky headlines in the interest of attracting eyeballs — more often than not, with a stale X-Files reference. But what about 10 years after the weirdness?
Remember the martian asteroid that was said to contain evidence of life, way back in 1995? This isn’t about that. Not exactly, anyway. Instead, in 2001, there were widespread reports of a “scarlet” or “red” rain in the Kerala region of India. This is what the Times of India reported at the time (emphasis mine):
Villagers of Vellimon in Kollam were witness to a strange spectacle when leaves of plants and trees in half-a-hectare stretch suddenly started falling in strong wind and drizzle in the morning.
The mystery over `scarlet rain’, experienced in parts of central Kerala recently, deepened further as experts from the Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS), distanced themselves from their earlier hypothesis that the phenonmenon could have been caused by dust thrown off by a meteor burst.
They claimed on Saturday that the sample analysis of coloured rain showed the presence of fungal spores.
By its own admission, the “tentative conclusions” leave unanswered questions like what could have produced the huge quantity of spores and how they got injected into the clouds.
It’s 10 years later, and some scientists are claiming those fungal spores were unidentifiable for a damn good reason: They’re of extraterrestrial origin. And, no, this isn’t a joke. And, no, it’s not entirely implausible.
According to supporters of panspermia — which has been around in its modern form since the 19th century — certain robust organisms can travel across great interstellar distances and, in the event of a collision with a planetary body, take root. Specifically, some say, life on our planet came from a meteor crash or meteor burst.
After sifting through fallout from the “red rain,” researchers claim to found evidence that proves it. From News.com.au:
The first theory to emerge was that it was simply sand or dust picked up from a desert, but a local physicist, Godfrey Louis, found that under a microscope, the water contained cells that looked like bugs.
Five years later, he published a theory suggesting the bugs that turned the rain red in India may have come from a comet that exploded above the Earth and seeded clouds.
Today, after a further four years of studying the cells, joined by a leading panspermia theorist from the UK, Chandra Wickramasinghe, Professor Louis has published claims that they are unlike anything found on Earth.
He says the cells – inert at room temperature – begin to reproduce at 121C.
Within two hours of being exposed to the heat, “daughter cells appear within the original mother cells and the number of cells in the samples increases with length of exposure”, they say in the new report.
While many spores on Earth can survive that kind of extreme heat, none have yet been discovered that can reproduce in those conditions, much less require it to begin reproducing.
The team also found an unusual pattern in the way the cells changed colour under UV light, known as “fluorescence behaviour”.
They said it was “in remarkable correspondence” with red emissions from the Red Rectangle planetary nebula some 2300 light years away, “suggesting, though not proving, an extraterrestrial origin”.
We forteans don’t expect the world to suddenly accept seemingly crazy hypotheses, so don’t cry for us when every scientist calls bullshit. (And anyway, essential to being a fortean is the philosophy of not drawing conclusions.) But professor Louis and his supporters are ready for the critics. Even if their peers won’t accept panspermia, they’d best pay attention. As reprinted in the above article, one commenter says:
“As a biologist, let me assure you that a cell-sized and shaped organism that reproduces, lives off LB and doesn’t appear to have any nucleic acid template (DNA or RNA) is a revolutionary discovery in and of itself.”
—Panspermia theorists say India’s red rain contains life not seen on Earth | News.com.au
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“And anyway, essential to being a fortean is the philosophy of not drawing conclusions.”
Glad to hear that. Observations are for more important than conclusions.
It’s a lot more fun, too.