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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Life on Venus may be microbe clouds - The Venus/Flu Connection

A Search for Evidence of
Interplanetary and Atmospheric
Microbial Delivery Systems

In 1950, amongst his other breaches of scientific protocol, Immanuel Velikovsky claimed that ancient texts provided evidence that various life forms, including some insects, exist in the atmosphere of Venus, and that in about 1450 BC some of those life forms were transported alive to Earth in the (then) comet-like tail of Venus.(2)

In 1953 Sir Fred Hoyle is reported to have informed Velikovsky that "his work was not properly scientific." Even so, Hoyle eventually came to champion the idea that pathogenic bacteria and viruses are brought to Earth by comet tails and meteor streams.(3) He and his colleague Chandra Wickrasminghe found evidence that the severity of influenza epidemics seems to be related to sunspot activity.

In 2000 a research team lead by another long-time colleague of Hoyle, Jalent Narlikar, reported (to the SPIE) what they consider unambiguous evidence of the presence of clumps of living cells [from space] in air samples from as high as 41 kilometers above the Earth's surface.(4)

But are the 2000 findings the "first evidence" of live drop-ins?

There is an earlier report on what was speculated to have been a "dropping-in on Earth" of alien bacteria which occurred during the middle part of the twentieth century. The report was published in 1963 by Donald Barber, who had just retired as Director of the Norman Lockyer Observatory at Sidmouth England. His article(5) documents a series of nine "unidentifiable" rain-water borne bacterial invasions which occurred at the Lockyer observatory between 1936 and 1961. Based on the bacteria's phenomenally rapid liquefaction property (of astronomical photographic plate emulsions), its toleration to highly toxic silver halide salts, and the unique correlation of their arrival times with certain "space weather related" events, Barber came to speculate that the bacteria were of extraterrestrial origin.

More here: www.ebicom.net/~rsf1/vel/iamds.htm


Venus is considered the most inhospitable of planets, a barren inferno where surface temperatures approach 900 degrees Fahrenheit and the atmosphere is composed of metal-eating acids. But the second planet from the sun actually may be harboring life, according to a University of Texas at El Paso research team. Studying conditions above the surface, it noticed mysterious patches swirling around, which may be communities of bacteria.

"From an astrobiology point of view, Venus is not hopeless, said Dirk Schulze-Makuch, a professor of hydrology and environmental science, who led the research. "I'd even argue that the chance for life on Venus is about as plausible as the chance for life on Mars."

The team's theory is that microbes could be living in clouds 30 miles up in the Venusian atmosphere, where conditions are relatively balmy -- water droplets are present, the temperature is 158 degrees Fahrenheit and the atmosphere is similar to what it is on Earth. Using data from the Russian Venera space missions and the U.S. Pioneer Venus and Magellan probes, the team found chemical oddities there that could be explained by the presence of living microbes.

He suggested the bugs could be using ultraviolet light from the sun as an energy source, which would explain the presence of strange dark patches on ultraviolet images of the planet.

More here: www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/space/1616042.html

Influenza 1918, A Venus Connection?

Historically, outbreaks of new strains of influenza and influenza related illnesses (SARS for example) have occurred shortly, on average 83 days, after Venus inferior conjunctions.

Venusian cloud-colony bacteria may serve as the viral hosts and, when clumped together, as radiation shielding viral spacecraft. Here, we're talking a War of the Worlds scenario, only the extraterrestrials are a lot smaller than in the H.G. Wells version.) Before one laughs oneself silly over this bit of seeming science fiction, go to Google.com and do a search on "life on Venus," A direct link to an online news report on the topic of possible Venusian bacteria is the HoustonChronicle.com article Life on Venus may be microbe clouds.

More here:

www.ebicom.net/~rsf1/vel/1918.htm

www.ebicom.net/~rsf1/vel/ven-tran.htm

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Well...this is quite interesting. I have not made the corrolation, nor have I made the event connections, but it seems that others have.

Quite interesting...

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Germs from Outer Space! Researchers Say Flu Bugs Rain Down from Beyond

In a paper of the Indian journal Current Science, the researchers present data that show how previous periods of high sunspot activity coincided with flu pandemics (large-scale epidemics). A roughly 11-year cycle of solar activity is increasing now and is expected to peak soon, other scientists agree.

The researchers say that the virus, or a trigger that causes it, is deposited throughout space by dust in the debris stream of comets, which are thought by many researchers to harbor organic material. As Earth passes through the stream, dust (and perhaps the virus) enters our atmosphere, where it can lodge for two decades or more, until gravity pulls it down.

"The intense solar activity at sunspot maximum that causes bright displays of aurorae also has the effect of driving viral particles or their triggers rapidly to ground level," the researchers say.

Among those who support the idea of panspermia -- that the seeds of life are everywhere -- Hoyle and Wickramasinghe have their supporters.

"In the 1970s, Hoyle and Wickramasinghe began to suspect that life on Earth could have come from space," says Brig Klyce, who studies cosmic ancestry and panspermia. "If so, wouldn't it still be coming? They decided to look for evidence that the germs causing plagues and epidemics come from space."

Klyce notes that several studies point to the presence of complex organics in space. "Mainsteam science scoffs, but biology is a possible source for these chemicals," he says. "If there is life, like bacteria and viruses in space, some of it would naturally fall to Earth."

Full story here from Space.com: www.space.com/scienceastronomy/planetearth/flu_in_space_000121.html

The SARS virus might have originated in outer space, according to a scientist in Britain.


In a letter to The Lancet medical journal, professor Chandra Wickramasinghe of Cardiff University suggests the virus was introduced to Earth on a comet or meteorite.

Comets are known to contain many organic chemicals as well as water. But international scientists are still undecided about research from 1996 purporting to show ancient bacterial forms in a meteorite from Mars.

The professor and his team estimate a tonne of bacterial material falls to Earth from space each day.

To support his theory, the professor highlights the unique nature and sudden appearance of SARS in China. He points to other mysterious modern epidemics like the Plague of Athens and the influenza pandemic of 1917-19 as also originating from the skies.

More here: www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/05/23/sars.fromspace/index.html

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Scientists discover possible microbe from space

(CNN) -- An international team of scientists has recovered microorganisms in the upper reaches of the atmosphere that could have originated from outer space, a participant in the study said Friday.

The living bacteria, plucked from an altitude of 10 miles (16 km) or higher by a scientific balloon, could have been deposited in terrestrial airspace by a passing comet, according to the researchers.

The microorganisms are unlike any known on Earth, but the astrobiologists "want to keep the details under wraps until they are absolutely convinced that these are extraterrestrial," said study participant Chandra Wickramasinghe, a noted scientist at Cardiff University in Wales. However, NASA said, a compelling case can be made for the transport of microorganisms through space aboard comets and meteors.

"A recent discovery indicates that microbes can remain dormant for millions of years -- enough time to travel from planet to planet," NASA said.

More here from CNN: archives.cnn.com/2000/TECH/space/11/24/alien.microbe.claim/

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I do believe that panspermia is plausible and quite a viable possibility.

[Centaur]

Thank goodness one article about this hooey included some rational observations from people who are actually virologists: "I think it is completely nuts," Dr. Anne Bridgen, a molecular virologist at the University of Ulster, told Reuters news agency. Professor Ian Jones, an expert in virology at the University of Reading in southern England, described the idea as bizarre.

A virus does not evolve or reproduce independently. It originates as a mutated chip off of a strand of DNA from a more complex organism. It can only reproduce by entering the cells of a creature to which its genes are fairly closely related. In effect, a flu bug mates with you and together you produce offspring. No molecule that developed in outer space would have contained a strand of DNA similar enough to a human’s to have caused any flu epidemics.

Unfortunately, the woos will always eat up this kind of nonsense that is so often brought to public attention by irresponsible "researchers". Media producers and editors are aware of this phenomenon and will pander to their readership rather than present boring studies that fail to confirm anyone’s hopes, fears or fantasies.

[Robert Fritzius]

In answer to Centaur's "Humbug" response: One speculative origin for human and avian DNA sources in the upper atmosphere of Venus is mentioned towards the end of the following webpage.
www.ebicom.net/~rsf1/vel/wtr_mtn.htm

[Robert Fritzius]

Oops!
The "response" (which deals with mammillian enzymes) to Centaur's "Humbug" is actually towards the end of:
www.ebicom.net/~rsf1/vel/1918vpt.htm

[Centaur]

Robert said:

In answer to Centaur's "Humbug" response: One speculative origin for human and avian DNA sources in the upper atmosphere of Venus is mentioned towards the end of the following webpage.
www.ebicom.net/~rsf1/vel/wtr_mtn.htm

The woos are out in force tonight. The physical impossibilities and archeological evidence refuting Velikovsky are too numerous to fully list here. Rest assured that celestial mechanics employing computer numerical integration (unavailable in the 1950's) has demonstrated that Venus has been stably located near its present orbit for at least 100's of millions of years. Recent ice cores have shown no evidence of Velikovsky’s speculated catastrophe occurring as recently as biblical times. Nevertheless, there will always be people enraptured by any pseudo-authority who seems to provide confirmation of their fantasies. Perhaps I should quit trying to appear reputable and instead join the quacks. It seems to pay.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Well...

Velikovsky's theory of Venus as a captured comet is pushing it. Perhaps his time line was off, who knows, but the Chinese believe in the Venus/Flu connection and prepare for it - and have for quite some time.

To dismiss extraterrestrial life, (in any form), is to dismiss astro-biology, astro-archeology and the like, including the panspermia concept. Accredited fields of science and quite mainstream. It is agreed that the possibility of organic componds might have have, and in all likely occurance, fell from the skies via comets and other space borne debris. Mutated into viable organisms here on Earth or someplace else is still not clear.

Organic elemental componds have been shown to exist in the vacuum of space, in comets and around distant stars. The "possibility" of microbiological life exists, and not discounted as folly...at least not yet. The books are still being written. I prefer to keep an open mind and listen to all other explainations rather than turning my back.

I wonder how the book will end?

[Maddad]

I agree with Centaur essentially. The problem with saying that a microbe from space periodically causes disease on Earth is that disease microbes evolve together with their hosts. If our bodies were ten degrees cooler, then the microbes would evolve to live best at 88.6 degrees Fahrenheit. They would not thrive at 98.6, and it might kill them.

The supposed invasion of pathogens from Venus would have no reason to need the exact complex environment found in human beings. As such, even if they came here, they would not cause disease.