[meteorite-list] WAS Cyanobacteria in meteorites? NOW: Life in Meteorites

[Meteorites USA]

If one looks hard enough at anything with a skeptical mind ambiguity 
will present itself in all it's subjective glory.

I understand about contamination with regard to meteorites falling, then 
sitting for thousands if not hundreds of thousands of years before their 
discovery. I also admit that improper handling of specimens could 
contaminate and void results as well. The only way to fix this apparent 
problem of doubt is to reduce the amount of it by acquiring and 
compiling more evidential data through proper sampling. Data that might 
be considered absolutely irrefutable. Is there such a thing? Perhaps one 
could argue the only way to prove it would be to send a probe to an 
asteroid, recover samples in a sterile environment, with sterile 
equipment, and preserve the sample through the entire journey back to 
Earth, to a sterile lab where the piece could be examined. Even then, 
doubt could still be cast, and it could be argued that contamination 
could happen at any point during the entire process from  manufacture 
and assemblage of the probe, to launch, collection method, sample 
return, processing, etc.

How do you cut out all of that doubt? Is it with a manned mission to the 
surface of an asteroid? Whereby that astronaut/scientist would sample 
and examine the asteroid "onsite" and report findings IF any evidence 
was found. How long would that manned mission take to find evidence? 
Perhaps forever if it doesn't exist.... But think of the knowledge that 
could be learned during that time. I'm sure there are those that would 
find fault with this method too. Humans are more fallible than machines.

I'm not arguing against doubt. I'm for it to an extent. But we should 
temper doubt with logic. When does scientific evidence become accepted fact?

Eric



On 8/21/2010 3:20 PM, Darren Garrison wrote:
> On Sat, 21 Aug 2010 13:39:48 -0700, you wrote:
>
>    
>> ;) Patience... Historically there's a process of belief vs proof and
>> that helps hypothesis and theory to evolves into self evident fact.. At
>> first people are not receptive and it gets ignored, then they argue
>> against it, then it becomes plausible, and finally it becomes a viable
>> theory, which in turn becomes fact based on empirical evidence.
>>      
> And, at times, the evidence is ambigious and questionable.  ALH84001 is one of
> those times.
>
> http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lpi/meteorites/alhnpap.html
>
> http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lpi/meteorites/alhnpapers_archive.html
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