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It's Raining Aliens - Possible Case of Panspermia

The red rain phenomenon of Kerala and its possible extraterrestrial origin

Red rain in India may be an alien biological life form, claims a paper published in the peer-reviewed Astrophysics and Space Science.

The red rain particles appear to have a cell structure, indicating that they are biological.  However, initial tests indicate that the material does NOT contain DNA, which is essential to life as we know it.  Dr. Godfrey Louis, the author of the article, claims that the material will reproduce under extreme heat.  If these claims are true, then it almost certainly alien life since there is no known life on Earth that does not contain DNA.  Note: The reproduction claim is not made in the journal article and has not yet been verified by other scientists.

20000x magnification: Electron microscope image of the red particles showing fine cell structure indicating their biological cell-like nature. Show full image

The particles began falling shortly after a meteor broke up in the atmosphere, leading Dr. Louis to believe that this is the origin of the dust.  The distribution of the particles has ruled out many other possibilities.  It has long been speculated that biological life can be carried by comets and meteorites and then spread across the universe.

Dr. Godfrey Louis states, "But I wish to consider the possibility of alternate biomolecules in these cells whose origin is now 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."

"If they're not living cells, I don't know what they are," said Milton Wainwright, a microbiologist at the University of Sheffield, UK. "Maybe this is the beginning of something amazing." Another scientist simply commented: "Sounds like bullshit to me." *

Other scientists have presented evidence that dust storms around the Horn of Africa and in the Middle East lofted thousands of tons of dust and fungal spores into the atmosphere that traveled over to India and were washed out by the monsoonal rains. Louis and Kumar have criticized this hypothesis, but have not yet conclusively demonstrated the extraterrestrial origin of their red rain spores.*

Sir Fred Hoyle believed that Panspermia was the driving force behind biological evolution, but this belief is not widely accepted.

Of course, one should remain somewhat skeptical until other scientists have had time to verify these claims.  But, if these claims are true, then it will lend credence to the claims that life may have originated on this planet via Panspermia.

My guess is that this will turn out to be something fairly mundane.  But, since the red rain particles can't be easily explained, whatever they turn out to be, terrestrial or extra-terrestrial, they should provide some interesting and valuable science.

Abstract from journal article:
A red rain phenomenon occurred in Kerala, India starting from 25th July 2001, in which the rainwater appeared coloured in various localized places that are spread over a few hundred kilometers in Kerala. Maximum cases were reported during the first 10 days and isolated cases were found to occur for about 2 months. The striking red colouration of the rainwater was found to be due to the suspension of microscopic red particles having the appearance of biological cells. These particles have no similarity with usual desert dust. An estimated minimum quantity of 50,000 kg of red particles has fallen from the sky through red rain. An analysis of this strange phenomenon further shows that the conventional atmospheric transport processes like dust storms etc. cannot explain this phenomenon. The electron microscopic study of the red particles shows fine cell structure indicating their biological cell like nature. EDAX analysis shows that the major elements present in these cell like particles are carbon and oxygen. Strangely, a test for DNA using Ethidium Bromide dye fluorescence technique indicates absence of DNA in these cells. In the context of a suspected link between a meteor airburst event and the red rain, the possibility for the extraterrestrial origin of these particles from cometary fragments is discussed. See the full journal article

See also

• Dr. Godfrey Louis - Red Rain of Kerala
• Skepticism greets claim of possible alien microbes
• It's raining aliens
• Red Rain Cells of Kerala, India - Still No Definite DNA
• Sir Fred Hoyle
• Did Extraterrestrial Life Rain Over India?
• Texas State research sheds new light on panspermia
• Creamy Pink Snow Covers Russian Region
• Other cases of pink snow

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2006-03-16 O Twist, Theistic Evolutionist, wrote
Interesting, Factual
I just had a quick look at this paper. It's definitely intriguing, however, I note the fantastic similarity of the cells to red blood cells. Furthermore, red blood cells do not have nuclei and thus don't have DNA.

From a very superficial perspective I would first like some evidence that the data presented was not derived from a dilute blood sample.

Since this phenomenon was so widely reported, there must be thousands of independent samples of this rain, so the reported claims should rapidly be verified or dismissed.

epicidiot reply: I totally agree.  As stated in the article, I recommend holding off any final judgment until Dr. Louis' claims have been verified by others.  This could be a hoax on his part, or maybe just bad lab work.  I'm still guessing that the final result will be something rather mundane - but interesting.