* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: Panspermia

Blobrana · L

British scientists claim to have found proof of alien life

A team of British scientists is convinced it has found proof of alien life, after it harvested strange particles from the edge of space.
The scientists sent a balloon 27km into the stratosphere, which came back carrying small biological organisms which they believe can only have originated from space.
Professor Milton Wainwright told The Independent that he was "95 per cent convinced" that the organisms did not originate from earth.
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Blobrana · L

Slow-moving rocks improve odds that life crashed to Earth from space

Microorganisms that crashed to Earth embedded in the fragments of distant planets might have been the sprouts of life on this one, according to new research presented at the European Planetary Sciences Congress (EPSC) on 25 September.
The researchers report that under certain conditions there is a high probability that life came to Earth - or spread from Earth to other planets - during the Solar System's infancy when Earth and its planetary neighbours orbiting other stars would have been close enough to each other to exchange lots of solid material.
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Blobrana · L

Title: DNA sequencing and predictions of the cosmic theory of life
Authors: N. Chandra Wickramasinghe

The theory of cometary panspermia, developed by the late Sir Fred Hoyle and the present author argues that life originated cosmically as a unique event in one of a great multitude of comets or planetary bodies in the Universe. Life on Earth did not originate here but was introduced by impacting comets, and its further evolution was driven by the subsequent acquisition of cosmically derived genes. Explicit predictions of this theory published in 1979-1981, stating how the acquisition of new genes drives evolution, are compared with recent developments in relation to horizontal gene transfer, and the role of retroviruses in evolution. Precisely-stated predictions of the theory of cometary panspermia are shown to have been verified.

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Blobrana · L

Is life from Earth scattered all over the galaxy?

A team of scientists from Japan are suggesting that the asteroid impact that killed dinosaurs may have also spread life from Earth throughout the galaxy.
65 million years ago, a 10km-wide asteroid smashed into the Earth and brought the 165 million-year reign of the dinosaurs to an end. It also spewed billions of tonnes of (potentially) life-bearing rock out into space.
The Japanese team of physicists has calculated what happened to it all.
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Blobrana · L

Title: Dynamics of escaping Earth ejecta and their collision probability with different Solar System bodies
Authors: M. Reyes-Ruiz, C.E. Chavez, M.S. Hernandez, R. Vazquez, H. Aceves, P.G. Nuñez

It has been suggested that the ejection to interplanetary space of terrestrial crustal material, accelerated in a large impact, may result in the interchange of biological material between Earth and other Solar System bodies. In this paper, we analyse the fate of debris ejected from Earth by means of numerical simulations of the dynamics of a large collection of test particles. This allows us to determine the probability and conditions for the collision of ejecta with other planets of the Solar System. We also estimate the amount of particles falling-back to Earth as a function of time after being ejected. We find that, in general, the collision rates of Earth ejecta with Venus and the Moon, as well as the fall-back rates, are consistent with results reported in the literature. By considering a larger number of particles than in all previous calculations we have also determined directly the collision probability with Mars and, for the first time, computed collision probabilities with Jupiter. We find that the collision probability with Mars is greater than values determined from collision cross section estimations previously reported.

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