I'll take Dr. Ted's advise while I watch this unfold.....
----- Original Message -----
From: "Marc Fries" <fr...@psi.edu>
To: "Meteorite-list List" <meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 05, 2011 3:19 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] CI1 meteorites and cyanobacteria
Howdy all
Here's my two cents, pure and simple - this paper is 110% bullshit. The
filaments the paper addresses are nothing new. They are apparently
amorphous sulfates formed from aqueous alteration of fine sulfides in the
CI's. You can see that in the EDS spectra published in the paper - the
predominant elements are sulfur, oxygen and magnesium. I.e., they are
sulfates (e.g. Mg2SO4 + hydration water). Some silicon "leaks" into the
measurement from materials behind one of the filaments.
I happen to have two CIs on loan to me right now - Orgueil and Tonk. I
have Raman spectra of the filaments found in both meteorites. They are
sulfates. My personal Surprise Meter registers a whopping Zero.
The argument is made that the lack of nitrogen in these "fossils" implies
that they pre-date their residence on Earth. This argument starts with
the assumption that the filaments are fossils, and then uses the
non-detection of nitrogen to "prove" that they are fossils. This is a
circular argument. Here's a more supportable hypothesis: no nitrogen was
detected because they are not fossils, but rather exactly what has been
known for decades - they are amorphous sulfate filaments caused by
hydration of fine sulfides in the rock.
This paper is a result of something I like to call the Lowell Effect.
Basically, it is what happens when someone stares into an instrument
expecting (or hoping) to see proof of life in the target. Percival Lowell
did it through a telescope with Mars, drawing elaborate "canals" in his
mind which indicated (to him) an advanced martian civilization. Certain
other scientists do it with the Apex chert while peering through
microscopes, and with hydrothermal graphite found in rocks from Isua,
Greenland through all manner of instruments. The author of this paper
pulled a Lowell Effect result out of his posterior after looking at CIs
with an electron microscope. Where I come from, we also call that
"letting your hopes make a fool of your reason".
Cheers,
Marc Fries
On Mar 5, 2011, at 6:56 AM, drtanuki wrote:
Dear List,
There is a very interesting newly published paper about cyanobacteria
found inside CI1 meteorites:
Journal of Cosmology, 2011, Vol 13, xxx.
JournalofCosmology.com, March, 2011
Fossils of Cyanobacteria in CI1 Carbonaceous Meteorites:
Implications to Life on Comets, Europa, and Enceladus
Richard B. Hoover, Ph.D.
NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL
The abstract can be read here:
http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/2011/03/fossils-of-cyanobacteria-in-ci1.html
Best Always, Dirk Ross...Tokyo
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