Monday, July 6, 2015

Life on a comet?

Sadly, probably not. I was excited to read a story that two scientists thought that data from the Philae lander indicates there might be life on Comet 67P. Not very exciting life, of course - we're talking microbes, not little green men.

Unfortunately, the claims are being made by Chandra Wickramasinghe - who has previously attempted to ascribe extraterrestrial origin to the SARS virus and the Spanish flu. He's a long time supporter of panspermia - a theory I think is possible, but for which we have no evidence - and probably saw what he wanted to see.

So, what did Philae find? Organic molecules - which we were expecting. Organic molecules are everywhere. They don't need life to exist and they don't mean life is there.

So, yeah...this one's probably a bust. But it would be fascinating if it was true...

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