Red Rain Proof of Extraterrestrial Life?

There was some short posts on ATS about this a while ago but none of them really went into a discussion about the findings and evidence. I encourage people to post any recent findings or evidence.

The following points are just a rehash of the points made in the Science Channel documentary - Unexplained Files:

Prof. Chandra Wickramasinghe - Astrobiologist - Consultant to the European Space Agency - Professor and Director of the Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology at the University of Buckingham: Believes the unicellular structures found abundant in the red rain of Kerala are of extraterrestrial origin and exhibit features not found on any microbes of Earth. Some of the reasons are that - they matched the unicellular structures found in meteor fragments that fell to the Earth just prior to the Kerala red rain episode. Other reasons below.

Prof Godfrey Lewis - Noted cells multiply, at "300 degrees centigrade [572 degrees Fahrenheit]" He said even "the toughest known heat-loving bacteria on Earth cannot withstand the same hot conditions as the red cells. Currently known conventional hyper-thermophilic microbes do not survive culturing beyond 122 degrees centigrade [252 degrees Fahrenheit].”.

He said the cells contain no visible nucleus and do not have any DNA!!!

Dr Anil Samaranayake - also verified these claims saying that he did not detect any phosphorus which is required for the DNA to exist. He and Prof. Wickramasinghe also noted a high concentration of uranium on the outer crust.

www.bibliotecapleyades.net...

www.bibliotecapleyades.net...

www.theepochtimes.com...

If I recall correctly, the Red Rain was more proof of Red Algae than ET life.

Heavier things like frogs and fish can rain from the sky too, and they're not from distant planets.
Red algae; well, that's much lighter and easier for the water cycle to make happen.
Sure, it's uncommon and strange, but, so is frogs and fish raining from the sky which have a smaller likelihood of occurring than red rain.

reply to post by nOraKat


If these characteristics are true, and it seems they are with multiple scientists confirming some really non-earthly properties of these cells, then I would say it is definitely proof of extra terrestrial life.

There really is not any problem for me with this since I don't have mental denial syndrome which affects about half of the planet if not more... For some, the idea that other extra earthly things might be here or have been here, whether it is ET or microbes, or whatever, is just not palatable to a lot of people.

People everywhere have been told since birth that anything out of the ordinary simply does not exist, hence the resistance to new knowledge or revelations like this.

reply to post by nOraKat


Few years ago we still believe earth is the center of the universe, now we stand corrected,
few years ago we still believe we are alone in the universe, now we still need to be corrected.

Cows have 4 feet, millipedes tens if not hundred, thats alien enough for me to accept the fact. Sadly, the mentality of "no pic didnt happen" is the common on this planet .

I just afraid the alien are contagious and will wipe out the planet. If it can think, doesnt matter much its when it doesnt thats the hard part.

reply to post by nOraKat

Red Rain Proof of Extraterrestrial Life?

No .
As mentioned by AliceBleachWhite the Red Rain was found to be spores of a lichen-forming alga belonging to the genus Trentepohlia, the red rain has happened before and since the 2001 episode in the same region.

Other researchers have noted recurring instances of red rainfalls in 1818, 1846, 1872, 1880, 1896, and 1950, including one described by Charles Darwin, and several times since then.

Most recently, coloured rainfall occurred over Kerala during the summers of 2001, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2012; since 2001, the botanists have found the same Trentepohlia spores every time.
This supports the notion that the red rain is a seasonal local environmental feature caused by algal spores
Red rain in Kerala

alienreality
reply to post by nOraKat

 

If these characteristics are true, and it seems they are with multiple scientists confirming some really non-earthly properties of these cells, then I would say it is definitely proof of extra terrestrial life.

There really is not any problem for me with this since I don't have mental denial syndrome which affects about half of the planet if not more... For some, the idea that other extra earthly things might be here or have been here, whether it is ET or microbes, or whatever, is just not palatable to a lot of people.

People everywhere have been told since birth that anything out of the ordinary simply does not exist, hence the resistance to new knowledge or revelations like this.

edit on 26-12-2013 by alienreality because: added

I have a severe attack of "mental denial syndrome" every time I am presented with something as a scientific fact when it is a wild exaggeration and a made up story.

May I just say that as of yet there has NEVER been any proof of any life as we know it being anywhere other than on the earth and in our atmosphere. For now the rest is wishful thinking and theories.

Personally, I am much more inclined to thinking that life was created here on earth. I also think it is the only place in the whole of infinity where life is present; that is cellular, reproductive organic life.

Now back to my mental denial syndrome!!!

Revolution9

alienreality
reply to post by nOraKat
Personally, I am much more inclined to thinking that life was created here on earth. I also think it is the only place in the whole of infinity where life is present; that is cellular, reproductive organic life.

While the OP story is a bit exaggerated, your statement is even more. Seems you still didn't make up your mind about this subject.

At least be modest with your inclination, going to the extreme is never good whichever side you choose. These days, even the scientists choose to be in the gray spot and yet, they are the rockstar of science.

edit on 26-12-2013 by NullVoid because: Add

amazing the things that have fallen from the sky, here I go again shamelessly pushing an old book by Charles Fort. the book of the damned, in which can be found 100's of incidents of falls from the sky, fish ,frogs (never tadpoles?), stones , huge blocks of ice, (so big that in a farmers field it looked like a flock of sheep grazing) , a block of ice in india fell which I believe is still the biggest recorded.

other falls include red rains( some of which were not algae , but of blood (corpuscles found)
yellow rains , black rains, black snow
paper
flesh
rains that smelt of animal matter...

the rains of slag in Slaines

*From the Book of the damned*



According to Rev. James Rust (Scottish Showers)22)

A black rain at Slains, Jan. 14, 1862 -- another at Carluke, 140 miles from Slains, May 1, 1862 -- at Slains, May 20, 1862 -- Slains, Oct. 28, 1863.


But after two of these showers, vast quantities of a substance described sometimes as "pumice stone," but sometimes as "slag," were washed upon the sea coast near Slains. A chemist's opinion is given that this substance was slag: that it was not a volcanic product: slag from smelting works. We now have, for black rains, a concomitant that is irreconcilable with origin from factory chimneys. Whatever it may have been the quantity of this substance was so enormous that, in Mr. Rust's opinion, to have produced so much of it would have required the united output of all the smelting works in the world. If slag it were, we accept that an artificial product has, in enormous quantities, fallen from the sky. If you don't think that such occurrences are damned by Science, read Scottish Showers and see how impossible it was for the author to have this matter taken up by the scientific world.

The first and second rains corresponded, in time, with ordinary ebullitions of Vesuvius.

The third and fourth, according to Mr. Rust, corresponded with no known volcanic activities upon this earth.(23)

La Science Pour Tous, 11-2624)

That between October, 1863, and January, 1866, four more black rains fell at Slains, Scotland.

The writer of this supplementary account tells us, with a better, or more unscrupulous, orthodoxy than Mr. Rust's, that of the eight black rains, five coincided with eruptions of Vesuvius and three with eruptions of Etna.

The fate of all explanation is to close one door only to have another fly wide open. I should say that my own notions upon this subject will be considered irrational, but at least my gregariousness is satisfied in associating here with the preposterous -- or this writer, and those who think in his rut, have to say that they can think of four discharges from one far-distant volcano, passing over a great part of Europe, precipitating nowhere else, discharging precisely over one small northern parish --

*end quote*

the other three books have many more to add to the repertoire of stuff that's fallen from the sky..

I think one of my favourite storeys is of where it rained in a spot no bigger than 20 square yards for three days , at the same times each day...just peculiar

funBox

reply to post by nOraKat


I have always thought that meteorites kind of, pollinate worlds (for better use of a word) and if these are microbes that have come from broken up asteroids I believe that quite fits in with my view.

At the end of the day, the first live cell on earth didn't just appear

NullVoid

Revolution9

alienreality
reply to post by nOraKat
Personally, I am much more inclined to thinking that life was created here on earth. I also think it is the only place in the whole of infinity where life is present; that is cellular, reproductive organic life.

While the OP story is a bit exaggerated, your statement is even more. Seems you still didn't make up your mind about this subject.

At least be modest with your inclination, going to the extreme is never good whichever side you choose. These days, even the scientists choose to be in the gray spot and yet, they are the rockstar of science.

edit on 26-12-2013 by NullVoid because: Add

That's because nobody really KNOWS!

I admit I don't have a clue about anything in truth. I am wise enough to know that I can never know.

The grey spot is the only place where an honest man can stand.

I think you were a tad harsh on me though because there is definitely no extra terrestrial cells that has been found in that there red rain.

My theory of life actually being deliberately created here on earth as a super natural act that is nowhere else in the physical universe has not been proven wrong yet!

edit on 26-12-2013 by Revolution9 because: typo.

gortex
reply to post by nOraKat

 

Red Rain Proof of Extraterrestrial Life?

No .
As mentioned by AliceBleachWhite the Red Rain was found to be spores of a lichen-forming alga belonging to the genus Trentepohlia, the red rain has happened before and since the 2001 episode in the same region.

Other researchers have noted recurring instances of red rainfalls in 1818, 1846, 1872, 1880, 1896, and 1950, including one described by Charles Darwin, and several times since then.

Most recently, coloured rainfall occurred over Kerala during the summers of 2001, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2012; since 2001, the botanists have found the same Trentepohlia spores every time.
This supports the notion that the red rain is a seasonal local environmental feature caused by algal spores
Red rain in Kerala

Forgive my ignorance but if it "is" what you just posted how does it account for the ability to survive the high heat as talked about in the other post?

I think we need to get out of the mindset that unless there is water and its in the goldilocks region then it must not be anything.

The first step for any investigation starts with the phrase - "I don't know".

reply to post by Revolution9


You are right this time Cant deny that!
As far as I remember from the doc on tv, the red rain is caused by a bacteria/fungus, it contain cells almost similar to blood but not really there. Origin is supposed earthly, how it get there nobody knows, conclusion point to earth based stuff.

On similar stuff, a jelly like substance was found in UK I think, scattered around after fog, people take and keep it in jars but it later vanished into thin air. No DNA was found, scientist point it to frog egg jelly.
Jelly thats not edible

I think, things that fall from skies (Fafrotskies) are a lot weirder than red/black rain. If an organism fall from space, it will get burnt - no evidence, if still have left over, it will be classified as contaminated same goes if its found floating around space shuttle.

At long last - microbiological entity as prove life from outer space - fade to black. The only thing left is a landing, a showoff or a crash in public by other intelligent entity. As for the aliens, they want to meet us but will not knock on the door and they have good reason not to.

reply to post by Xcathdra


Here's a report from 2001 in the Times of India that shows that the rain was not isolated and lasted over a prolonged period .

several places in central kerala have received red-coloured rains since last week. in some places, people even reported having received yellow, green and black rain. the experts of the centre for earth science studies (cess) here have carried out preliminary tests of the coloured rain waters collected by people in vessels

baba said. the "red rain" was first reported from changanassery in kottayam district. at first, it was dismissed as an "isolated" case. but in the next days, coloured rains were reported from ernakulam, pathanamthitta and palakkad districts. the panic-striken people collected samples of the coloured water in kitchen vessels. this greatly helped the experts to get access to samples conduct their studies. according to baba, the coloured rain waters is being subjected to detailed tests by scientists to identify its source before which it would be difficult to jump to any conclusion
articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com...

If we are to believe this material came from space then there must of been an awful lot of it to colour the rain over a large area for a prolonged time.
While I can't be 100% certain I do believe the rain was caused by a series of natural events converging to create the effect , it's happened before and since and no doubt it will happen again therefore I don't feel the need to say I don't know because I believe I do know .

The CESS press release was triggered by the chemical analysis of the water samples that showed these were largely biological. Biological studies have identified organic material such as fungal spores in them. CESS director M. Baba said: ‘‘The exact species is yet to be identified. But how such a large quantity of spores could appear over a small region is as yet unknown.’’
On July 25, Changanacherry town had received the coloured showers overnight that continued into the morning and on till sunset. Some residents collected samples of the rain. They said the shower was accompanied by thunder and lightning.

This has been tentatively identified as spores of some fungus species and are now being cultured by the TBGRI. ‘‘The red colour of the rain appears to be mainly because of the spores,’’ Baba said. These findings, say CESS, raise doubts on whether the explosive sound reported by residents and the red rain were independent events.
‘Red rain was fungus, not meteor’

reply to post by gortex


interesting to note the explosive sounds with the rains in india ,and I presume these differ to the explosive sounds of thunder.. Charles fort reported these explosive sounds also with unusual falls of and in rains.. dam if only someone could make the connection.. if I remember rightly Fort hypothesised that these where new arrivals, a kind of teleportic migration with accompanied large explosions of materialization,. sounds bizarre doesn't he?

*funBox ducks as the sounds of as 100 thousand fish go "bloop"*

funBox

What I do not buy in this Wikipedia article, about the Government of India's findings, is that so many highly esteemed biologists did not recognize something so common as tree lichen or algae.


Trentepohlia

And this is not just any ol' biologist either. Prof. Chandra Wickramasinghe is a pioneer in the field of astrobiology. He is director of Astrobiology at the University of Buckingham. I highly doubt that he would not recognize a common lichen or algae.

He is not alone in his opinion that these life forms were very unusual.

Prof., Nalin De Silva in the Science Channel documentary said ‘we cannot conclude that this is a type of algae, it has a different structure completely."

Prof. Godfrey Lewis said “The biochemistry of this life form is different, it is a new kind of Life form.. this is something extraordinary.”

All of these biology-teams are not part of the same group. They are independent conclusions made by different groups.

And none of them recognized common tree lichen or algae? I doubt it.

In a 2006 interview Prof. Wickramasinghe reported that there was still no confirmation of DNA (and they have been studying it since 2001), yet in the Wikipedia article they clearly concluded it as being Trentepohlia.

---
Some notable points:

The cells were placed for 15 hours at 300 degrees centigrade [572 degrees Fahrenheit] - not only did the cells survive, but they thrived and multiplied at that temperature. Other hyper-thermophilic microbes do not survive culturing beyond 122 degrees centigrade [252 degrees Fahrenheit].

The unusually thick cell walls contained a high concentration of uranium.

In 2006 Linda Moulton Howe reported - "This month on August 7 to 8, I was in the Microbiology Lab at Cardiff University to see the red rainwater for myself and to talk with Prof. Wickramasinghe and his graduate student, Nori Miyake. Nori has tried to break open the cells to amplify whatever DNA might be there. Nori showed me the pale pink rainwater in test tubes.

Nori told me he has never seen such thick, hard cell walls, which he could only partially penetrate."


Norimune Miyake, Ph.D.-student, Astrobiology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales.
Since Since March 2006, "Nori" has been trying to break into the thick-walled Kerala red rain
cells to amplify whatever DNA might be there.

So far, DNA confirmation has not happened, however Nori did say there is a possibility there is DNA.

Other articles reported as late as 2013 (that I searched on Google) reported confirmation of DNA. I wonder, if this group already believed it to be a common tree lichen, would they go so far to investigate this even as late as 2013?

Would Prof. Wickramasinghe's group at Cardiff University still be studying the organisms in 2006 (five years later) if it were obviously tree lichen or algae?

Dr. Louis reported as many as 15 “daughter cells” budded within one “mother cell” and then broke out of the adult cell. Cardiff lab director, David Lloyd, said he thinks the rainwater cells might be some kind of Earth yeast cells, which also replicate by internal budding. This is another characteristic which may not be in accord with tree lichen or algae.

I also do not think that such a large abundance of these cells came from a meteor explosion. Not sure a single meteor can provide such a mass quantity.

Just some of my thoughts..

Unfortunately, this Red Rain thing is another case of bad science and media overkill in reporting it combined with good science and the media's lack of integrity in reporting THAT.

And so, to summarize the background of the finding that Kerala's red rain consisted of alien cells, we have a completely hypothetical supposition put forth to explain bad data resulting from a methodological error by scientists working outside their discipline. There never was any uncertainty about the algae among Indian botanists, there was only a week or two after the rainfall until what they suspected was confirmed; and yet, it's nearly impossible to find this true cause of the red rain in pop culture. Even today, the overwhelming majority of articles written about Kerala's red rain promote the extraterrestrial alien spore theory. Documentary films are still being made today that make no mention of the algae, but publicize only the sensational alien theory. News articles continue to parrot the misconception that the cells contain no DNA, continuing to quote only Godfrey Louis and the two or three other non-botanists whom he has managed to convince of his alien theory.

All too often, we give undue credence to incredible stories simply because they've been written up in a magazine or broadcast on the news. The red rain of India is one powerful example of the need to provide extraordinary evidence to support an extraordinary claim, and it fails that test. The story of the Trentepohlia spores may not be sexy, and it may not blow anyone's mind, but it's what happened. Stick with the explanations that fit into our understanding of the world, and with the consensus of the majority of specialists, and you'll be right far more often than you'll be wrong.

Ahmadjian, V. The Lichen Symbiosis. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1993. 78-80.

Farquhar, P. "Panspermia theorists say India's red rain contains life not seen on Earth." News.com.au. News Limited, 3 Sep. 2010. Web. 17 Sep. 2010.

McCafferty, P. "Bloody rain again! Red rain and meteors in history and myth." International Journal of Astrobiology. 21 Jan. 2008, Volume 7: 9-15.

Ramakrishnan, V. "Coloured rain falls on Kerala." BBC News. British Broadcasting Company, 30 Jul. 2001. Web. 15 Sep. 2010.

Reed, J. "Mysterious red cells might be aliens." CNN. Time Warner, 2 Jun. 2006. Web. 17 Sep. 2010.

Sampath, S., Abraham, T., Sasi Kumar, V., Mohanan, C. Colored Rain: A Report on the Phenomenon. Kerala: Center for Earth Science Studies and Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute, 2001.

nOraKat
What I do not buy in this Wikipedia article, about the Government of India's findings, is that so many highly esteemed biologists did not recognize something so common as tree lichen or algae.

Trentepohlia

And this is not just any ol' biologist either. Prof. Chandra Wickramasinghe is a pioneer in the field of astrobiology. He is director of Astrobiology at the University of Buckingham. I highly doubt that he would not recognize a common lichen or algae.

Don't be so sure of that....He has a history of making unsubstantiated claims.

Wikipedia: Chandra Wickramasinghe

More recently, Wickramasinghe has hypothesized that elementary living organisms like the lichen-forming alga spores present in the red rain in Kerala are of extraterrestrial origin, and that pathogens as the SARS virus also arrived on Earth from deep space carried in asteroids and comets. However, these speculations lack support from the scientific community and are at times published in the fringe Journal of Cosmology.

In his role as media communicator, he has appeared on BBC Horizon, UK Channel 5 and the History Channel. He has recently been featured on a Discovery Channel program on "Red Rain" which will be aired in the fall of 2013. He has a long association with Daisaku Ikeda, president of the Buddhist sect Soka Gakkai International, that led to the publication of a best-selling dialogue with him, first in Japanese and later in English, on the topic of Space and Eternal Life.

Read this thread on him: www.abovetopsecret.com...

This was a fascinating read years ago. Thanks for the update.