http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/06/02/red.rain/index.html
As bizarre as it may seem, the sample jars brimming with cloudy,
reddish rainwater in Godfrey Louis's laboratory in southern India
may hold, well, aliens.
In April, Louis, a solid-state physicist at Mahatma Gandhi University,
published a paper in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal Astrophysics
and Space Science in which he hypothesizes that the samples -- water
taken from the mysterious blood-colored showers that fell sporadically
across Louis's home state of Kerala in the summer of 2001 -- contain
microbes from outer space. Specifically, Louis has isolated strange,
thick-walled, red-tinted cell-like structures about 10 microns in size.
Stranger still, dozens of his experiments suggest that the particles may
lack DNA yet still reproduce plentifully, even in water superheated to
nearly 600 degrees Fahrenheit . (The known upper limit for life in water
is about 250 degrees Fahrenheit .)
So how to explain them? Louis speculates that the particles could be
extraterrestrial bacteria adapted to the harsh conditions of space and
that the microbes hitched a ride on a comet or meteorite that later broke
apart in the upper atmosphere and mixed with rain clouds above India.
If his theory proves correct, the cells would be the first confirmed
evidence of alien life and, as such, could yield tantalizing new clues
to the origins of life on Earth.
Last winter, Louis sent some of his samples to astronomer Chandra
Wickramasinghe and his colleagues at Cardiff University in Wales,
who are now attempting to replicate his experiments; Wickramasinghe
expects to publish his initial findings later this year. Meanwhile, more
down-to-earth theories abound. One Indian government investigation
conducted in 2001 lays blame for what some have called the "blood rains" on algae.
Other theories have implicated fungal spores, red dust swept up from
the Arabian peninsula, even a fine mist of blood cells produced by a
meteor striking a high-flying flock of bats.
Louis and his colleagues dismiss all these theories, pointing to the fact that
both algae and fungus possess DNA and that blood cells have thin walls
and die quickly when exposed to water and air.
More important, they argue, blood cells don't replicate. "We've already got
some stunning pictures -- transmission electron micrographs -- of these cells
sliced in the middle," Wickramasinghe says.
"We see them budding, with little daughter cells inside the big cells."
Louis's theory holds special appeal for Wickramasinghe. A quarter of a century ago,
he co-authored the modern theory of panspermia, which posits that bacteria-riddled
space rocks seeded life on Earth.
"If it's true that life was introduced by comets four billion years ago," the astronomer says,
"one would expect that microorganisms are still injected into our environment from time to time.
This could be one of those events." The next significant step, explains University of Sheffield
microbiologist Milton Wainwright, who is part of another British team now studying Louis's
samples, is to confirm whether the cells truly lack DNA. So far, one preliminary DNA test
has come back positive. "Life as we know it must contain DNA, or it's not life," he says.
"But even if this organism proves to be an anomaly, the absence of DNA wouldn't necessarily
mean it's extraterrestrial."
Louis and Wickramasinghe are planning further experiments to test the cells for specific
carbon isotopes. If the results fall outside the norms for life on Earth, it would be powerful
new evidence for Louis's idea, of which even Louis himself remains skeptical.
Jan Rasmussen