They Walk Among Us (Well, bit too small to walk actually...)

[Azisien]

I heard a short snippet of an interview of Dr. Godfrey Louis on CBC Radio (Canadian National radio station). Really fast synopsis:

In 2001 in a particular region of India, a mysterious red rain started to fall, and continued to for quite some time. There are a number of theories to explain to phenomenon, though by far the most interesting is Louis's: Extraterrestrial bacteria, arriving on Earth via a meteorite. The red-stained bacteria were dispersed in the upper atmosphere when the meteorite descended, and mixed with the clouds and rain to form the red rain.

Sounds crazy, but that is indeed how the theory of panspermia pans out. More quick definitions for the uninformed:

Panspermia: One of the theories on the origins of life, such that the Earth was 'seeded' by living organisms from outer space (via a comet, asteroid, what have you).

Just to give another perspective, another (probably rather popular) theory on the origins of life on Earth is abiogenesis.

Abiogenesis: In a nutshell, that the simple chemistry of nonliving organic materials eventually turned into the notably more complex chemistry of life. The Earth was in pretty good position in terms of driving a lot of chemistry to happen 4 billion years ago, after it had cooled down sufficiently.

For the sake of some scientific objectivity, there are down-to-earth (I <3 puns!) other explanations:
1) Red algae
2) Fungal spores
3) Swept up dust from Arabian Peninsula
4) Meteorite striking a flock of high flying bats, the red fluid being their blood (coughbullshitcough)
And of course 5) Extraterrestrial bacteria, arriving via a meteorite.

There is some interesting, albeit somewhat circumstancial, evidence supporting Dr. Louis's hypothesis, and the circumstances also don't seem right for some of the "conventional" explanations. More synopsis:
-If it was life from Earth, especially something like algae, it would have plentiful amounts of DNA. So far as they know at this point, the sampled fluid contains no DNA.
-The "organisms" appear to replicate via budding, and appear to have "membranes," I've not heard of fungal spores with this capability (and still lacking DNA), and unless it's magical Arabian dust...
-Red blood cells do not replicate in this fashion, and would not survive in this medium (water/air). The odds of a meteor hitting a flock of bats is about as stretched as aliens too...
-An analysis of the fluid indicates a chemical composition similar to biological conditions (mostly carbon, oxygen, some sodium and iron)
-A sonic boom blew out windows in the area of India where the rain fell just before the rain fell, a meteorite crash was indeed plausible.

Further reviews and studies are currently underway by scientists in the UK. This TOTALLY tickles my scientific and geeky sci-fi imagination! I mean, I'm very skeptical of it, apparently Louis is too, but he was quoted saying "I wish there was a simpler explanation, but I can't find one." Even if the odd compounds in the fluid WERE terrestrial somehow, it still might prove very interesting for the field of biology.

Thoughts?

----
Readings!

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science/2c21c0f98d07b010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1723913,00.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_rain_in_Kerala
(More Pictures) http://www.curdrice.com/ranga/red_rain.html

[Bells]

So, this is how that series "invasion" got started............... hum!

Well... just like Acid Rain, is not hard to belive that smoke, dirt, chemicals in the air or in the water, made it change its color

[xravi]

This throws my concpet of humanity in a completly new universe..............WERE ALILENS WOOT!

[phil_]

Come on, Scab Coral! Just 10,000 years and we can start Ref-boarding!

Oh, this isn't off-topic. In that case, I find it highly improbable that this red fluid is extra-terrestrial life. I base this on nothing more than it would be way too cool to finally have proof of life outside Earth during my lifetime. Call back in 100 years when I'll certainly be dead; then we'll discuss aliens.

It's fun being pessimistic because folks subscribe the pessimistic opinion most readily.

[PyrosNine]

I seem to recall a similar case of Red rain that was caused by the multitude of red earth in the given region, which was just fine enough to be carried off with evaporation and gave the rain the appearance of red blood....

Don't have the link on me though, sorry.

[Tydeus]

Yeah, it is a pretty cool thought. I mean, the whole "budding" behavior that's been seen so far suggest some kind of life, doesn't it? Of course, it could be an alien plauge that will turn us all into zombies. They laughed at me for playing Dead Rising -- we'll see who laughs last!

[Azisien]

I seem to recall a similar case of Red rain that was caused by the multitude of red earth in the given region, which was just fine enough to be carried off with evaporation and gave the rain the appearance of red blood....

Don't have the link on me though, sorry.

The popular explanation IS that. Louis (and perhaps the others) claim the "organisms" can replicate. Now I've never heard of replicating sand.

*waits for a disconfirming instance*

EDIT:

I read Louis's original article. Either our paper standards in North America are quite a bit different, or it's a very mediocre paper. Given that it's published in English, the grammar isn't too hot either.

Note the uncanny resemblance of their Scanning Electron Micrographs of the particles to Red Blood Cells:

RBCs: http://www.fortunecity.com/greenfield/rattler/46/images/rbc-sem.jpg
Red Rain Particles: http://www.curdrice.com/ranga/blog/myimages/rr/6.jpg

Though, as far as I've looked at (mostly bovine) red blood cells, they don't look like that in a TEM at that magnification. Actually, the particles in general seem so crude altogether. Not only do they lack nuclei, but there are no visible organelles either even at 20000x magnification (and in a lot of normal cells, you could probably count ribosomes at that magnification :p). Now, I don't truly believe any of this yet, but it's really neat to note that, if indeed these cells arrived via a comet from outer space, and they came from, presumably, FAR away, natural selection probably requires them to be very, very, very crude just to survive for such a long time. They appear to be highly modified for what one might assume is the harsh conditions of being inside a comet, though they seem so resistant it makes me wonder if in some shots, its dust particles or spores, and in others, its red blood cells. Aka, a hoax. Ah well, a man can dream.

[Tydeus]

If it turned out to be true, the "organisms" would probably be one of, if not the biggest find in the history of evolutionary biology. I mean, we'd basically be seeing organisms so simple that they could give us a lot of insight into how life first arose. That would be neat. I hope it doesn't turn out to be another disappointing hoax. You know the piltdown-man (that's the name, right?) comparisons will be flying thick and fast.

[TheSpacePope]

This throws my concpet of humanity in a completly new universe..............WERE ALILENS WOOT!

Actually according to Sumerian mythology(or fact, however you want to live it.) We are aliens.
I have a video, but it is off topic so I will makises another thread.
But Azisien, that is a cool find, there are some that believe that the red color of the rocks on Mars is of a similar makeup, however, I'd find that difficult to believe, and also link to.
Again though, that seeding from space, that is a neat theory and it ties in nicely with what the sumerians wrote about long long ago.