[meteorite-list] Dog Helped Confirm Life in Mars Meteorite

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:32:10 2004
Message-ID: <200401281712.JAA29918_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/01/28/1075088091398.html

Canine sleuth sniffs out a slice of heaven on earth
By Richard Macey
The Age (Australia)
January 29, 2004

[Image]

Tamarind, the canine scientific sleuth, and her master Tony Taylor.
Together they may have made a breakthrough in collecting evidence of
life on Mars.

History may record that Tamarind the dog helped confirm there was once
life on Mars.

While five space probes, including two rovers, explore the Red Planet, a
Sydney scientist's pet pooch may have found the evidence so many have
been seeking.

When NASA announced in 1996 that a meteorite recovered from Antarctica
appeared to contain fossils of ancient Martian bacteria, there were
sceptics.

The rock, blasted off Mars 16 million years ago, fell to Earth 13,000
years ago.

Inside, scientists found chemical structures that looked like the work of
organisms. But there was a problem.

Sceptics argued one of the structures could only form at very high
temperatures far too hot for life.

Now two Australians, Tony Taylor, of the Australian Nuclear Science and
Technology Organisation at Lucas Heights, and Queensland University's
Professor John Barry, say they have discovered an identical structure in
dozens of different bacteria thriving in the ooze around Queensland's
Moreton Bay.

To find the earthly organisms, Dr Taylor ventured to Moreton Bay with
Tamarind, part dingo, part kelpie. "She's my research assistant," he said,
explaining he had taught her to sniff out sediments where the right bacteria
lived. "The stuff smells like sewage."

After setting Tamarind loose, she veered off the road, into the bush and
five minutes later came back covered in mud.

When Dr Taylor examined 82 different bacteria from the spot Tamarind found,
as well as two other nearby sites, one a golf course, he discovered they
contained 11 characteristics also found in the Mars fossils, including the
structure other scientists claimed could only form under scorching heat.

"That is an extraordinary match," he said, adding that the Mars fossils
were now far more convincing than T-rex skeletons.

"Our research shows that the structures found in the NASA meteorite were
more than likely made by bacteria present on Mars 4 billion years ago,
before life even started on Earth."

A biophysicist with the nuclear research centre, he said the problematic
structure, resembling cartilage around tiny backbone discs and vertebra,
had never been studied in fine detail in earthly bacteria because
electron microscopes had insufficient resolution.

But he found a way, with the help of ultraviolet light, to steady the
organisms.

Dr Taylor predicted that while sceptics would not give up, they would go
quiet.

The director of Macquarie University's Centre for Astrobiology, Malcolm
Walter, remained a sceptic yesterday.

"That's putting it mildly," he said, warning that just because something
looked like life did not mean it was once alive.

"It would be very interesting if they have seen these structures (in
bacteria), but it would be far from convincing," said Professor Walter,
who had not yet read the scientists' full report.

Their findings, crediting Tamarind's work, will be published today in
the Journal of Microscopy.
Received on Wed 28 Jan 2004 12:12:26 PM PST