[meteorite-list] CI1 meteorites and cyanobacteria

[Ted Bunch]

Well said!!


On 3/5/11 4:19 PM, "Marc Fries" <fries at psi.edu> wrote:

> Howdy all
> 
> Here's my two cents, pure and simple - this paper is 110% bullshit.  The
> filaments the paper addresses are nothing new.  They are apparently amorphous
> sulfates formed from aqueous alteration of fine sulfides in the CI's.  You can
> see that in the EDS spectra published in the paper - the predominant elements
> are sulfur, oxygen and magnesium.  I.e., they are sulfates (e.g. Mg2SO4 +
> hydration water).  Some silicon "leaks" into the measurement from materials
> behind one of the filaments.
> I happen to have two CIs on loan to me right now - Orgueil and Tonk.  I have
> Raman spectra of the filaments found in both meteorites.  They are sulfates.
> My personal Surprise Meter registers a whopping Zero.
> The argument is made that the lack of nitrogen in these "fossils" implies that
> they pre-date their residence on Earth.  This argument starts with the
> assumption that the filaments are fossils, and then uses the non-detection of
> nitrogen to "prove" that they are fossils.  This is a circular argument.
> Here's a more supportable hypothesis: no nitrogen was detected because they
> are not fossils, but rather exactly what has been known for decades - they are
> amorphous sulfate filaments caused by hydration of fine sulfides in the rock.
> 
> This paper is a result of something I like to call the Lowell Effect.
> Basically, it is what happens when someone stares into an instrument expecting
> (or hoping) to see proof of life in the target.  Percival Lowell did it
> through a telescope with Mars, drawing elaborate "canals" in his mind which
> indicated (to him) an advanced martian civilization. Certain other scientists
> do it with the Apex chert while peering through microscopes, and with
> hydrothermal graphite found in rocks from Isua, Greenland through all manner
> of instruments.  The author of this paper pulled a Lowell Effect result out of
> his posterior after looking at CIs with an electron microscope.  Where I come
> from, we also call that "letting your hopes make a fool of your reason".
> 
> Cheers,
> Marc Fries
> 
> 
> On Mar 5, 2011, at 6:56 AM, drtanuki wrote:
> 
>> Dear List,
>> There is a very interesting newly published paper about cyanobacteria found
>> inside CI1 meteorites:
>> 
>> Journal of Cosmology, 2011, Vol 13, xxx.
>> JournalofCosmology.com, March, 2011
>> Fossils of Cyanobacteria in CI1 Carbonaceous Meteorites:
>> Implications to Life on Comets, Europa, and Enceladus
>> Richard B. Hoover, Ph.D.
>> NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL
>> 
>> The abstract can be read here:
>> 
>> http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/2011/03/fossils-of-cyanobacteria-in
>> -ci1.html
>> 
>> Best Always, Dirk Ross...Tokyo
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