I think your right scott look what I have just found
We always hoped the moment Martians were found in Britain would be, you know, a little more exciting than this. But while we envisioned little green men and world domination, it was inevitable that science was always going to have a more, well, real alternative.
Scientists at NASA say recent tests on a meteorite from London's Natural History Museum show what is believed to be a fossilised colony of Martian micro bacteria -- a UK first.
Using a scanning electron microscope they took an incredibly close look at slices of the meteorite, which fell from Mars, landing in Egypt in 1911. They claim the bumpy surface suggests a fossilised colony of micro-bacteria – which is indeed, a simple form of life.
While the Martian micro-bacteria sample will now go on show at the Natural History Museum, they won't be letting Kim and Aggie of 'How Clean Is Your House' fame, anywhere near it. The NASA scientists believe Martian bacteria first arrived on earth 13,000 years ago on a meteorite which smashed into the Antarctic. And if you think that is a long time ago, they added the Antarctic meteorite was blasted out of Mars 16 million years earlier.
From the Telegraph
The microscopic aliens are on a slice of a meteorite in the museum.
Nasa scientists, who used a scanning electron microscope to take snaps, say the bumpy surface resembles a fossilised colony of microbacteria – a simple form of life.
The meteorite from Mars fell on Egypt in 1911.
Last month it emerged that Nasa scientists believe Martian bacteria arrived on Earth on a meteorite which smashed into the Antarctic 13,000 years ago.
Their fossilised remains have been found in the rock, which was blasted out of Mars 16 million years ago as the solar system was forming.
The meteorite, called Allen Hills 84001, made headlines in 1996 after fossils were found in it. Scientists believed they were bacteria from Earth that contaminated the rock while it lay in the frozen wastes.
But a Nasa report says there is strong evidence they originated on Mars.
The Nasa study, led by Kathie Thomas-Keprta, found carbonate discs and tiny magnetite crystals inside the space rock. Scientists were able to use high resolution electron microscopes that were not available 13 years ago.
They concluded "
unusual chemical and physical properties"
in the meteorite were "
intimately associated within and throughout these carbonate disks"
. That, they said, was evidence of interaction with water on Mars more than 3.5 billion years ago.
Sun Nov 29, 2009 12:43 pm
