Alien invasion in Kerala !

Kerala was privy to a onslaught of red rain in late July 2001. Initially it was expected that the cause was some red dust in the atmosphere...then the equation changed...the structure of the dust, turned out to be cellular !

A scientist from Kerala, Godfrey Louis believes that it was actually alien cellular life that hitched a ide on a comet and then fell to the earth as the comet disintegrated in the earth's atmosphere. He has even written a paper about it. The abstract of the paper...

A red rain phenomenon occurred in Kerala, India starting from 25th July 2001, in which the rainwater appeared coloured in various localized places that are spread over a few hundred kilometers in Kerala. Maximum cases were reported during the first 10 days and isolated cases were found to occur for about 2 months. The striking red colouration of the rainwater was found to be due to the suspension of microscopic red particles having the appearance of biological cells. These particles have no similarity with usual desert dust. An estimated minimum quantity of 50,000 kg of red particles has fallen from the sky through red rain. An analysis of this strange phenomenon further shows that the conventional atmospheric transport processes like dust storms etc. cannot explain this phenomenon. The electron microscopic study of the red particles shows fine cell structure indicating their biological cell like nature. EDAX analysis shows that the major elements present in these cell like particles are carbon and oxygen. Strangely, a test for DNA using Ethidium Bromide dye fluorescence technique indicates absence of DNA in these cells. In the context of a suspected link between a meteor airburst event and the red rain, the possibility for the extraterrestrial origin of these particles from cometary fragments is discussed.

Reactions about this vary...some excerpts are...first the favourable view...

‘‘If they’re not living cells, I don’t know what they are,’’ said Milton Wainwright, a microbiologist at the University of Sheffield, UK quoted in New Scientist. ‘‘Maybe this is the beginning of something amazing.’’

...and then the opposing view...

A point that goes in favour of sceptics is that these "biological forms" do not have DNA and there cannot be living cells without DNA. Some scientists have proposed a theorey that its blood from bats or pollen from trees.

This apparently links to the panspermia theory - one that believes life on earth came from space, and then seeded earth. Although the jury is still out on that one.