Two recent articles: Peru meteorite crash 'causes mystery illness' | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited and a followup on meteor-borne disease in general.
Now, there are theories of panspermia, of flu coming from space dust falling on us. In one recent case concerning a strange red rain in India, claims that alien microbes lacking DNA have reached the scientific journals.
I'm suspicious of most of these claims individually, but the idea has some merit. We know Martian meteorites have landed on Earth, and it's possible that life began on Mars and migrated here. We also know that amino acids and other complex organic compounds are present in the interstellar clouds in space. Even if full blown alien life doesn't fall from the sky, the building blocks of life certainly could have.
It can make good science fiction, too, but unfortunately Michael Crichton already wrote the Andromeda Strain over three decades ago, and HG Wells used the common cold to kill his invading Martians (the reverse scenario) in War of the Worlds. It's tough though, to write good stories where the enemies are microbes, even if you do get to use the phrase "horrible incurable space disease!"
Now, alien nanotechnology falling from space...
Posted by Mike at September 21, 2007 9:46 AM | TrackBack