Re: little green microbes

["Michael N. Monce" <mnmon@conncoll.edu>]

On Thu, 8 Aug 1996, Paul Camp wrote:

> If you're interested in seeing what all the ruckus has been about for 
> the last couple of days, an electron micrograph mugshot of the alleged 
> Martian can be seen at http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html, 
> the Astronomy Picture of the Day. There's also a link to the NASA 
> press release.
>
> I dunno . . . sounds like the cold fusion of the 90's.
>
>
> Paul J. Camp                   "The Beauty of the Universe
> Assistant Professor of Physics  consists not only of unity
> Coastal Carolina University     in variety but also of 
> Conway, SC   29528              variety in unity.
> pjcamp@csd1.coastal.edu             --Umberto Eco
> pjcamp@postoffice.worldnet.att.net    The Name of the Rose
> (803)349-2227                         
> fax: (803)349-2926

	I watched the press conference yesterday and everyone was very 
careful to stress the somewhat preliminary nature of the result.  Taken 
all together the data is "interesting" is the way I would put it.  I 
don't think the researchers can be faulted for bad technique.  They had a 
microfossil expert from UCLA examine the work and give his opinion.  
Basically he said the age and origin of the meteorite is ok.  They also 
showed to his satisfaction that the structures they see are indigenious 
to the rock itself and not a product of contamination.  The chemistry is 
sound, but the conclusion that it's biological in origin is where he has 
doubts.  I got the impression what he really wanted was the chemistry of 
the walls of the so-called fossils.  They don't have that yet and it will 
be difficult as they are about 10x smaller than an equivalent bacterial 
fossil found on earth.  Dick Zare plans more laser analysis of the 
"fossils".  The fellow from UCLA seemed to indicate that if they came up 
amino acids, for example, and also showed by micrographs some interior 
structure to the buggers, he would be more likely to accept their 
authenticity.

					Mike Monce
					Connecticut College