"Mysterious red cells might be aliens"

[Savonarola]

Mysterious red cells might be aliens
PopSci -- As bizarre as it may seem, the sample jars brimming with cloudy, reddish rainwater in Godfrey Louis's laboratory in southern India may hold, well, aliens.

In April, Louis, a solid-state physicist at Mahatma Gandhi University, published a paper in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal Astrophysics and Space Science in which he hypothesizes that the samples -- water taken from the mysterious blood-colored showers that fell sporadically across Louis's home state of Kerala in the summer of 2001 -- contain microbes from outer space.

Specifically, Louis has isolated strange, thick-walled, red-tinted cell-like structures about 10 microns in size. Stranger still, dozens of his experiments suggest that the particles may lack DNA yet still reproduce plentifully, even in water superheated to nearly 600 degrees Fahrenheit. (The known upper limit for life in water is about 250 degrees Fahrenheit.)

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[Dardedar]

W
O
W

[Barbara Fitzpatrick]

No DNA? Definitely not "life as we know it". In fact, definitely not cells as we know them, if they don't have DNA. Be interesting if he can isolate how it/they reproduce.

[tilrman]

... the particles may lack DNA yet still reproduce plentifully ...

Uh-oh. Tiny red tribbles.

[Barbara Fitzpatrick]

What do they "eat"? Is this the beginning of the "dominent" life form that will easily survive the worst global warming will do (and possibly replace life as we know it - including us - as the "most fitted" species for the new habitat? How humilitating for the great, powerful, beloved of god, species to be replaced by tiny red tribbles.

[Doug]

What do they "eat"?

DOUG
If they eat ignorance, they will be gorging at the GOP national convention and related areas...

[Barbara Fitzpatrick]

Hot water doesn't bother them. Maybe hot air would.