Re: Martian microbe
R. Joel Duff (duff@siu.edu)
Wed, 7 Aug 1996 18:40:31 -0500At 04:39 PM 8/7/96 -0500, you John Tant wrote:
>Someone else mentioned that info might be available at the nasa
>home page. It is.
>
>http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/NewsRoom/today.html
>
I just saw the McNeil News Hour (or is he the one who retired I keep
forgetting) on PBS and they had a much more extensive highlights including
1: the evidence it is a martian rock to begin with and 2: the possible
trace fossils found.
The highlight though was an off the cuff remark by the Stanford Professor
that even if this turns out to be truly remains of organic life it now has
been as surely shown that material from one planet can "contaminate" another
(my wording) and thus an ealier "visit" by a rock from Mars might have
donated life to this planet or the life on Mars came from Earth (and just
got returned - and therefore the similarity). In either of these cases,
life need only originate once, thus providing means of espape should I
become convinced of the validity of these findings. Ah, wheels within wheels.
>
Joel Duff
Dpt. Plant Biology
Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, IL 62901-6509