I watched a documentary the other night, that suggests a "red rain" falling over the west of India actually proves were all from outer space. The rain was, when looked at in a lab, filled with small red cells, pretty much like blood-cells but without the DNA.
"Quote:...one of the strangest incidents in recent meteorological history. On 25 July, 2001, blood-red rain fell over the Kerala district of western India. And these rain bursts continued for the next two months. All along the coast it rained crimson, turning local people's clothes pink, burning leaves on trees and falling as scarlet sheets at some points."

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/worl...1723913,00.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_rain_in_Kerala

The scientists cannot agree, of course, on what this really is. Some say a large amount of flying bats where hit by a meteorit and scattered their bloodcells, or that a lava (not "lava" as from vulcans, but more like "moss" -my english is terribly limited...) from a tree got caught by the wind and spread with the rain. However, this does not explain the lack of DNA. Other scientists claim this is proof on how we all originated. We literally fell from the sky!

I have no theory myself, but thought it fascinating enough. So what do you think? Is it possible we came like dust from the stars and fell down like "aliens"? Or is this just a bunch of nonsense? And more importantly, how does it affect our view on the world, atheists and religious people alike?

That's very strange.
Haha, I don't know what to say about this but it's unlikely to have been the bat thing. Because of the lack of DNA but maybe the lava theory could be possible. Or acid rain. I don't know. It's a bit unnerving though. =[

Lava from a tree? What?

The tree could have been on fire.. Oh yeah. That doesn't make sense. :doh

The bat theory is stupid too. There would have been DNA in the blood.

I think I know what you're talking about. Stuff like fungi and their spores, right?

http://lamington.nrsm.uq.edu.au/ima...gi/fungi068.JPG

Like this?

I was like that too... that's new to me, some type of tree that produces lava

That is strange, but maybe if they'll find a good explanation they will not be so strange anymore. Anyway, if there was a really strong electrical field to cause the sonic boom, maybe it altered certain common particles in the air, makign them strange like that. As for our extraterrestrial origin theory, I've heard one view saying that our legs are way too long for us to have evolved naturally on earth, and because of that there are many incidents of people breaign their legs. Apparently we are build for a much bigger planet with a stronger gravitational force.

Run, it's the Red Weed! The War of the Worlds is about to begin!

Seriously, I have no clue what this will mean, but I seriously doubt the bat explanation. I suppose once in a very small localised area could be the result of that, but not for two months and all along the coast.

not to nitpick, but wouldn't alien "blood cells" look completely different than anything recognizable on Earth? Plus, if they were advanced enough to make it to Earth completely unseen, they should be able to prevent a blood spill that we would interpret as rain.

We don't know that alien blood cells would be different. Likewise, we don't know that they would be the same either. The idea is to keep an open mind about it.

Plus, accidents can happen, although from what I've read, the alien theory heads more to the idea that it was floating in space for a while, not that it's proof of aliens trying to land here.

My personal opinion now that I've given it some though is that the red 'blood' is actually a large amount of spores released from fungi in that areas was release and caught up in the water vapour in the atmosphere, and discoloured the water.

Earth was flat at one time and people fell off of it all the time around the edges.

If it is alien blood, who evolved on a completely separate world, millions and millions of miles away from Earth, with a completely different set of environmental factors (the odds of their planet being exactly like Earth would be infintessimal) being that similar in structure to human blood cells, then you have just created the biggest scientific argument for the existence of God ever. Aliens developing on a completely different world, under different environmental circumstances than we have here on Earth would not follow the same biological chain we do here. Our system works here, but that doesn't mean it could elsewhere. Our evolution has been largely dependent on the environmental variables found here on Earth. The odds of an alien race developing along the exact same lines as us, with genetic structures that we can readily recognize for what they are are astronomically small. They would be different. If they were similar, it proves God exists, as it proves a deliberate order to things, because it would impossible to occur under natural circumstances.

I think we came from space. Little viruses came down off a comet or something, where they landed on Earth and evolved. It's completely possible, Viruses (or virii?) can lay dormant for thousands of years without dying, which is why I suppose they could be innocently lying around on an asteroid or something that came to Earth.

Cells, however, are a different kettle of fish. Even for cells to survive flying through space at such low temperatures would be hard, not to mention entering the Earths atmosphere where they'd get heated up to enough to fry any human cell to a crisp. So suggesting that these cells drifted down from space is insane. That's coming from someone who thinks there really are aliens out there, too.

No, stupid me... I haven't seen your post correcting it... my bad.

P.S: I'd love to speak swedish Lol

Just to clarify the cell biology here, mammalian red blood cells (erythrocytes) never have DNA in them.

EDIT: Which is probably why bats rather than birds were proposed as an explanation.

Most red blood cells don't have DNA btw. Unless you're a bird/dinosaur etc



That's impossible. Viruses cannot replicate without a host cell, therefore how could they copy themselves to grow and evolve without any host cells around?

Although I completely accept that life could have started from an asteroid/comet landing on the Earth, I find it completely more interesting to think about how organic compounds were created and came together to form amino acids(the 'building blocks' of life on Earth), DNA and primitive cells.

And besides, even if the Earth was seeded by aliens, those aliens, or aliens somewhere along the line would have had to form from organic compounds randomly out of almost nothing. It's not impossible, in fact one should think its a statistical given.

To make a grand sweeping statement and say that the chance of finding an Earth like planet is infinitessimal, is very arrogant. There are tens of billions of solar systems in the universe, many of which will have Earth like planets, or other planet types (because remember, life changed the planet - algae released oxygen giving us our oxygen rich atmosphere.) so it is possible life could evolve on a planet completely different to our own. As evidence, look at all the bacteria who do not use oxygen and live off iron, sulpher, carbon compounds etc. In addition these bacteria live in extremely harsh conditions - at the bottom of the sea under immense pressure beside deep sea vents of extreme temperatures for example.

Also, life could come about completely randomly on Earth - all of the components were there - i.e. elements such as carbon, nitrogen and hydrogen and oxygen, and liquid water. We're not talking about amino acids and cells forming in a few minutes. Or even a week. Or a year. Or 10,000 years. Or 10,000,000 years. We're talking about life forming 2.7 billion years ago, over a period of about 500 million to a billion years. That's a helluva long time. Is it really so 'impossible' that life formed randomly?

Forgive my ignorance (these are just my thoughts... I've never really investigated so be nice if I'm about to sound stupid ) but can someone tell me why it is that people don't seem to mention the possibility that 'life' can form from compounds/elements/atoms/whatever that 'we' know nothing about? I really don't think that the only way life can happen is with carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, and amino acids the way it does on this planet.

On another note I've always thought about the possibility that the planets are all in different phases in their 'lives'. Over billions and billions of years the planets change (by themselves or though outside help)... sorry I can't say this better but like one day in the distant distant distant future Earth may be like (or has already been like) Venus or Pluto... oh wait, I forgot, Pluto is no longer a planet

If you read the wikipedia article, whose link was provided for us at the beginning of the thread, they have several conventional theories that make sense. The "bats getting hit by a meteor" theory is out, no one there is no record of wings or anything found raining down with the red rain. There was also a theory that the rain could have been caused by dust partials lifted from the Sahara and carried to India, though this would not explain the localization of the red rain nor why it only fell over the Kerala state of India. The explanation I provided above provides a reasonable reason for the red rain. It explains the red rain, for the most part, without needing to bring in the theory for extra terrestrial life. Don't get me wrong, I think that there are such things as aliens, but lets look a little closer to home and exhaust all the reasons for this happening that could have been caused by humans before we turn our eyes to the stars.

BDragon, I'd have to agree with you, the simplest explanation is usually the right one, and extraterrestrials would be one of the more 'out there' examples.



You shouldn't be so timid It's a very admirable trait to want to learn and ask questions!

I completely agree with you, it does seem possible that life could evolve from elements different from the one's we're made from. Scientists years ago theorised that silicon could replace carbon for example, and lots of bacteria here on Earth don't use oxygen at all! So it's completely possible, just because we havn't come accross it yet doesn't mean it couldn't work.

I really like your analagy of the Earth being 'alive'? Because obviously, over time, things change. Especially on a planet like Earth, we have ice-ages and warm periods. And the Earth was once very like Venus, and it's possible Mars was once like Earth! One day the Sun is going to explode and the entire Earth will die, or be engulfed. But that's not scheduled for about another 5 billion years, so no worries! heh heh

It's all very humbling to think about I think, because each one of us is so tiny in comparison to the vastness of the planet and the universe.

lol gothpunk... I won't be so timid next time... you just seemed so well spoken I was like, "Ummmm how do I say this... "