[meteorite-list] (no subject)

From: Treiman, Allan <Treiman_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:44:42 2004
Message-ID: <D144DC845882D311959900500424D7D0B1BBAE_at_cassnt2>

Hi, List --

The answers are
Maybe, No, and No.

   The life in martian meteorites is still open to great debate. Dave McKay
and
co-workers believe they have good evidence, even proof of martian life.
Others
(including me) think their evidence can be explained better by inorganic
processes.
For instances compare
<http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2001/pdf/2017.pdf>
and <http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2001/pdf/1996.pdf> with
<http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2001/pdf/1304.pdf> and
<http://www.minsocam.org/MSA/AmMin/TOC/Abstracts/2001_Abstracts/Mar01_Abstra
cts/Golden_p370_01.pdf>.

   I don't think there's any credible evidence for life on the moon.
However, one
respected scientist suggested that ice and water at the lunar poles might be

a decent place for bacteria.
<http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2000/pdf/1492.pdf>.
Another neat report just last week was of iron carbonate and iron hydroxide
formed
on the moon, and found in a fragment of highland breccia.
<http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2001/pdf/1242.pdf>

   As for Murchison and other CM chondrites, there are still more reports of
biological
structures found in them, most recently at the Lunar and Planetary Science
Conference.
<http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2001/pdf/1278.pdf>. These reports show
up
every few years, and always turn out to be inorganic structures or
terrestrial
contamination. For instance,
<http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/LPSC99/pdf/1321.pdf>.
But hope and Richard Hoover spring eternal.

Allan


Allan H. Treiman
Lunar and Planetary Institute
3600 Bay Area Boulevard
Houston, TX 77058-1113

281-486-2117
281-486-2162 FAX
treiman_at_lpi.usra.edu

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ari machiz [SMTP:a_machiz_at_yahoo.com]
> Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2001 2:35 PM
> To: meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com
> Subject: [meteorite-list] (no subject)
>
> 13. I have recently read about fossil bacteria in
> Martian meteorites, lunar meteorites, and the
> Murchison meteorite. Have we finally discovered life
> in any of these meteorites?
>
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Received on Thu 22 Mar 2001 04:07:20 PM PST