[meteorite-list] Red Rain in India

[Dave Schultz]

  Sounds like he just got finished watching Tom Cruise
in the new version of "War of the Worlds". Maybe next,
there will be blood red roots growing everywhere!
                                         Dave


> 
> Red rain from another planet?
> rediff.com
> March 08, 2006
> 
> On July 25, 2001, blood-red rain fell over Kerala.
> The unusual
> phenomenon continued for two months, raining
> crimson, turning clothes
> pink, burning leaves on trees. In some places, the
> rain fell in scarlet
> sheets.
> 
> Scientists were shocked, and the government ordered
> an investigation.
> Scientists concluded that the rain was red because
> winds had swept up
> dust from Arabia and dumped it on Kerala. But Dr
> Godfrey Louis, a Reader
> in Physics at the School of Pure and Applied Physics
> at the Mahatma
> Gandhi University in Kottayam, Kerala, was not
> convinced.
> 
> He diligently gathered rain samples and, after
> months of painstaking
> research, concluded: 'The red particles, which
> caused the red rain of
> Kerala, are of extraterrestrial origin.'
> 
> His colleagues -- other scientists and physicists --
> frowned at the
> conclusion. But Dr Louis stuck to his theory. His
> scientific conclusions
> have now received international support. Dr Milton
> Wainwright of the
> micro-biology Department at Sheffield University in
> Britain has been
> examining some of the particles of the red rain
> samples that hit Kerala.
> And he has come out in support of Dr Louis' theory
> that the rains could
> belong to an alien life form.
> 
> "I am indeed thrilled that my scientific conclusions
> have received
> international support and recognition," Dr Louis
> told rediff.com New
> Scientist Magazine, in its March cover story, has
> published the red rain
> phenomenon along with the doctor's theory.
> 
> How did he come to this conclusion, we asked. Dr
> Louis says the
> phenomenon first occurred at the place close to
> where he lives in
> Kerala. "The characteristics were very strange.
> Conventional
> explanations appeared totally inadequate. I started
> an investigation
> with limited resources and was greatly assisted by
> my research student A
> Santhosh Kumar," he says.
> 
> How did their investigations bring them to their
> interesting conclusion?
> "We arrived at it by analysing the various aspects
> associated with the
> phenomenon, like the geographical and time
> distribution pattern, and the
> nature of the particles," he says.
> 
> These are the findings:
> 
>     * The phenomenon can be explained easily if it
> is assumed that the
>       origin of the red particles is from cometary
> fragments, which
>       underwent atmospheric disintegration above
> Kerala.
>     * There is additional correlating evidences that
> prompts this line
>       of thinking, like the sonic boom from the
> meteor airburst, which
>       preceded the first red rain case. Having made
> a logical
>       possibility like this, it follows that the
> cometary body in
>       question should contain a huge quantity of
> these red particles,
>       which amounts to an estimated quantity of more
> than 50,000 kg.
>     * What makes this finding most important is the
> biological cell-like
>       nature of the particles. Under an optical
> microscope, they appear
>       like biological cells. Transmission Electron
> Microscopy further
>       shows a clear cell structure (Image above).
> Their organic nature
>       is indicated by the major presence of carbon
> and oxygen. But,
>       despite these biological indications, the
> cells do not show the
>       presence of DNA. The genetic molecule DNA is
> present in all living
>       organisms found on Earth, so the absence of
> DNA argues against the
>       biological nature of these cells.
>     * There is thus the possibility of alternate
> biomolecules in these
>       cells, whose origin is suspected as
> extraterrestrial. This way,
>       the cells may represent an alternate form of
> life from space. If
>       these are such biological cells, then their
> production in huge
>       quantity inside cometary bodies can be
> explained by the theory of
> cometary panspermia.
> 
> But, what if these new scientific ideas are wrong?
> Dr Louis says that,
> if they are, he wants a better explanation for the
> phenomenon and the
> strange nature of the cells. "If these cells have a
> terrestrial origin,
> then it follows that they exist in huge quantities
> in some part of the
> Earth and are sure to have been noticed by some
> microbiologists. But
> there appears to be no such identification so far,"
> he says.
> 
> Dr Louis' theory was initially ridiculed, but has
> now been accepted for
> research by international scientists like Dr
> Wainwright. His research
> has also been accepted for publication in the
> reputed international
> journal Astrophysics and Space Science. He is soon
> gearing up to publish
> the next set of results and conduct several
> collaborative studies to
> further unravel the mystery of the cells.
> 
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