Title: Great Bend Daily Tribune City: Great Bend, Kansas Date: Sunday, November 19, 1961 Page: 11
Find Evidence of Life On Meteorites LONDON (AP) - Two New York scientists said here they have found evdience of traces of living things in meteorites reaching the earth from outer space. Dr. George Claus of New York University and Prof. Bartholomew Nagy of Fordham University reported they found in certain meteorites organized elements resembling in structure the fossilized remains of microscopic forms of life Of five types of "organized structure" which they describe, four are said to be, similar to known earth species, but not identical. They resemble small single-celled animals - dino-flagellates or chrysomonads - which live only in sea or lake water. The fifth is unlike any known terrestrial organism. This evidence will do much to strengthen the implication of other discoveries in the last two years, which have shown how meteorites of various kinds are contaiminated with traces of complex chemical substances whose presence is most easily accounted for by contact with living things. The two scientists examined samples from two meteorites. These were the Orgueil meteorite, which fell in southern France in 1864, and the Ivuna meteorite, which fell in an arid region of central Africa in 1938. The authors of the research have gone to some trouble to exclude the possiblity that the objects which they have seen could have contaminted the meteorites after their arrival on the earth. In each instance the meteorites remained out of doors for onyl a few hours after falling. They said it is most likely that the structures are the fossilized remains of living micro-organisms "indigenous to the meteorites." No single piece of evidence of this kind can be considered conclusive proof of the existence of life outside the earth. But now the prospect of interesting discoveries seems to ahve brightened, it is certain that analysis of meteorites will accelerate. Please visit, www.MeteoriteArticles.com, a free on-line archive of meteor and meteorite articles. |
