Martian Life May Exist on Earth (Jan, 1932)
Filed under: Space — @ 9:37 pm
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jan, 1932
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Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jan, 1932
| Buy on Ebay
Hard to argue with compelling evidence like that.
Martian Life May Exist on Earth
THAT kinds of life which originated elsewhere in the solar system not only have reached the earth in past ages but still are here in much the same forms as when they arrived is the opinion of a Viennese scientist. Striking evidence is supplied by the bacteria which live in salty, desert regions and develop red colors, like the prevailing red color of the planet Mars.
Bah! Richard C Hoagland can do better than that!
Comment by Torgo — March 30, 2009 @ 10:16 pm
This “scientific” method rocks!
Comment by scud — March 31, 2009 @ 6:53 am
Physicist Paul Davies has been suggesting the idea that there may actually be “alien” microorganisms on Earth. What he means is that there may be organisms that operate by entirely different biochemical principles from the ones we are familiar with. Since we have not remotely assayed all the different types of microorganisms on the planet, we might be missing something, all the more so because they might be unusually small, or our test procedures don’t catch them, or they live in extreme environments. He suggests broader assays with a particular focus on extreme environments — even if they don’t turn up anything completely different, they’re certain to turn up some unusual organisms anyway.
Comment by MrG — March 31, 2009 @ 7:33 am
The creatures that live at the bottom of the sea near volcanic vents certainly seem alien.
Isn’t there a theory that ALL life on earth is of extraterrestrial origin?
Comment by jayessell — March 31, 2009 @ 8:39 am
Most of the “extremophiles” have biochemistries along the lines of our own in a general sense — they have unique features of course, like the microorganisms found recently in Mono Lake CA that not only live in waters loaded with arsenic, but can’t be cultured in the lab without making sure they have a supply of arsenic. Davies is saying that while we’re investigating extremophiles, we might want to make sure we have a really good net that won’t miss organisms that are *completely* different and unexpected.
The notion of extraterrestial origin has been around for about a century. It’s kinda seen as a speculative concept — astrophysicist Fred Hoyle made a lot of it but nobody took him very seriously. About the only thing it really has going for it is that if the origins of life really are, as some naysayers insist, in defiance of the odds, then life could have arisen even before our Sun was formed, billions of years ago, and drifted from world to world.
Comment by MrG — March 31, 2009 @ 9:15 am
Given the evidence, I’m pretty sure that the floor of my old Honda Civic had been colonized by Martians. Alien bastards ate a hole right through it!
Comment by Charlie — March 31, 2009 @ 12:10 pm
Of course there are alien lifeforms on Earth. Two live at my house – they’re called teenagers.
Comment by JD — March 31, 2009 @ 2:15 pm
How alien is “Alien”. If it were possible for “Alien” life forms to survive on or in meteors hitting the Earth for all the time it’s been around, then any life forms that survived and adapted to life on earth would have to be similar enough in organic makeup to “naturally evolved” lifeforms that I doubt our science could tell the difference.
If it were so different as to stand out, there would be little chance of it’s survival on such a “Alien” world as ours.
Comment by Roger — March 31, 2009 @ 3:31 pm
Mars, apparently, is the most unsanitary place in the solar system.
Comment by Eli — March 31, 2009 @ 4:38 pm
“Striking evidence is supplied by the bacteria which live in salty, desert regions and develop red colors, like the prevailing red color of the planet Mars.”
Wow, that IS striking evidence! I mean, we’re talking about two different things that are the color red. There just has to be a causal relationship there.
Comment by rsterling78 — April 2, 2009 @ 2:33 am
goddamnit. i KNEW those communists where up to something. this explains why they want to take over the earth.
Comment by mickey — April 6, 2009 @ 8:55 am