From: "E. ALLEN SMITH" <EALLENSMITH@ocelot.Rutgers.EDU>
Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996 14:13:58 +0800
To: schryver@radiks.net
Subject: Re: Alien life
Message-ID: <01I805OF0QJ49JD2RG@mbcl.rutgers.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


From:	IN%"schryver@radiks.net"  "Scott Schryvers"  7-AUG-1996 11:08:59.39

>NBC News at Sunrise has just announced the discovery of alien life on the 
>planet Mars.  The lifeform that became extinct more than 2 billion years
>ago was found as a fossil in a meteor that originated from mars and landed
>on earth.  The fossil found was a primitive germ life form.

	A: This is not cypherpunks material. I am replying to try to prevent
urban legend formation (of the UFO suppression type). B: You are quite
thoroughly misinformed, as is NBC News if it is claiming the same thing. What
have been found are some molecules, of the type known as polycyclic
hydrocarbons (same sort as makes up cholesterol, in essence), that _may_ have
been produced by a lifeform. Other, unliving chemical processes, such as
combustion under the proper conditions (see buckyballs & buckytubes), can
produce the same thing. Yes, it _may_ be from life, but we aren't certain yet.
It is most certainly not a fossil, and the type of life form that it _may_ have
come from is as yet not possible to determine.
	-Allen, Ph.D. graduate student in microbiology and molecular genetics