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Post by Mistress Rell on Nov 10, 2008 8:24:18 GMT -5
The revelation last week that tiny eight-legged animals survived exposure to the harsh environment of space on an Earth-orbiting mission is further support for the idea that simple life forms could travel between planets. This idea, called panspermia, is not new. It holds that the seeds of life are everywhere, and that microbial life on Earth could have traveled here from Mars or even from another star system, and then evolved into the plethora of species seen today. In essence, we may all be Martians. In various forms, the panspermia concept was discussed among scientists in the 1700s, again in the 1800s, and then notably when Sir Fed Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe popularized it about 30 years ago. Mainstream scientists often dismissed the hypothesis, however, even into the 1990s. But new life has been breathed into the idea in the past decade. One big question that dogged panspermia for decades has been settled, most scientists agree: Could life endure a trip from one world to another? One key breakthrough was a 2000 study that concluded a rock from Mars, found on Earth, remained cool enough during its violent ejection from the red planet and its fiery trip through our atmosphere 16 million years later to sustain life were there any aboard. Full Article~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Really interesting story.
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Post by Weird Rob 87 on Nov 10, 2008 15:26:27 GMT -5
Neat.. so now we have new little species living?
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Post by Mistress Rell on Nov 11, 2008 6:56:53 GMT -5
Lol, I don't know. but the theory proves that life can travel through the univers, as long as it's safely hidden within something. Like the rocks they found at the poles that suggested they came from Mars.
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