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Re: are we alone? (slime molds and other primitive life included)

MeteorHntr wrote:
> 
> All this slime mold got me thinking.
> 
> I am sure there has been research on the possibilities of an impact occurring
> on Earth and projecting life (slime molds or others) from Earth out into our
> solar system.  If so, what is the opinion on the subject, or where could I
> find more info on it?
> 
> Or is it impossible that ANYTHING (slimey or otherwise) could survive such a
> long space journey from Earth to Mars or farther?
> 
> Steve Arnold

Some biologists identify slime molds as primitive eukaryotes, but
"simpler" organisms seem like much better model candidates for transport
with survival.  (The recent Richard Hoover electron microscope images
taken from Murchison samples, and previous Hans Pflug etc. images, are
another chapter in the saga of whether remnant organisms or biotics is
seen in meteorites.  Some of these images are fantastic appearing, but
there is still the question of whether anyone will demonstrate that they
are anything more than a "seeing faces in clouds" phenomenon.)  There
has been a controversy about bacteria revived from bees in ancient
amber, though I haven't followed whether this claim is still thought
credible.  If you accept this type of thing as given, then the questions
of surviving impact launch under Earth's gravity (relatively strong
compared with Mars) and survival in a rock in the space environment for
possibly millions of years becomes an issue (though the cosmic age of
even some of the non-lunar meteorites is under a million years, and
there should have been more frequent incidents involving "short"
transfer times more than four billion years ago due to higher traffic).
Overcoming launch shock from earth may be a big problem, but then again
by analogy -- and assuming the SNC origin as a fairly "big" body like
Mars -- Nahkla was not shocked hard as Zagami. Radiation is another
important issue.  It can be shielded to some extent by rock, and abetted
by the radiation hardy nature of some micro-organisms.
 
More informative than any pithy comments I could make, the following
site contains a superb set of articles and links:

  http://www.panspermia.com/
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