Real life Aliens

NASA researchers at Johnson Space Center, Houston have found organic materials that formed in the most distant reaches of the early Solar System preserved in a unique meteorite.

The study was performed on the Tagish Lake carbonaceous chondrite, a rare type of meteorite that is rich in organic (carbon-bearing) compounds.

Organic matter in meteorites is a subject of intense interest because this material formed at the dawn of the Solar System and may have seeded the early Earth with the building blocks of life.

The Tagish Lake meteorite is especially valuable for this work because much of it was collected immediately after its fall over Canada in 2000 and has been maintained in a frozen state, minimizing terrestrial contamination. The collection and curation of the meteorite samples preserved its pristine state.

In a paper published in the Dec. 1 issue of the journal Science, the team, headed by NASA space scientist Keiko Nakamura-Messenger, reports that the Tagish Lake meteorite contains numerous submicrometer hollow organic globules.

The organic globules in the Tagish Lake meteorites were found to have very unusual hydrogen and nitrogen isotopic compositions, proving that the globules did not come from Earth. The isotopic ratios in these globules show that they formed at temperatures of about -260° C, near absolute zero, said Scott Messenger, NASA space scientist and co-author of the paper.

The organic globules most likely originated in the cold molecular cloud that gave birth to our Solar System, or at the outermost reaches of the early Solar System.

The type of meteorite in which the globules were found is also so fragile that it generally breaks up into dust during its entry into Earth's atmosphere, scattering its organic contents across a wide swath.

"If, as we suspect, this type of meteorite has been falling onto Earth throughout its entire history, then the Earth was seeded with these organic globules at the same time life was first forming here." said Mike Zolensky, NASA cosmic mineralogist and co-author of the paper.

The origin of life is one of the fundamental unsolved problems in natural sciences. Some biologists think that making a bubble-shape is the first step on the path to biotic life.

We may be a step closer to knowing where our ancestors came from, Nakamura-Messenger said.
(Mine came from Germany! -ed. ;-)

Oh for God's Sake!

Dr. Richard Dawkins has been one of the leading proponents of the atheistic point of view and according to some articles I have read he is slowly starting to preach atheism with the same feverous zeal that is displayed by some evangelical religious adherents.

He started off slowly with his first book "The Selfish Gene" back in the seventies, but has been gathering up momentum recently in his quest to disprove the existence of God.

He describes his astonishment that, at the start of the 21st century, religious faith is gaining ground in the face of rational, scientific truth.

Science based on scepticism, investigation and evidence must continuously test its own concepts and claims.

Faith, by definition, defies evidence: It is untested and unshakeable, and is therefore in direct contradiction with science.

In addition, though religions preach morality, peace and hope, Dawkins says; "They bring intolerance, violence and destruction. The growth of extreme fundamentalism in so many religions across the world not only endangers humanity but, is in conflict with the trend over thousands of years of history for humanity to progress –to become more enlightened and more tolerant."

In his latest book "The God Delusion" he has a few comments that I would like to expound upon, and a few that I would like to refute!

Consciousness is the biggest puzzle facing biology, neurobiology, computational studies and evolutionary biology. It is a very, very big problem. I don't know the answer. Nobody knows the answer.

I think one day we probably will know the answer. But even if science doesn't know the answer, I return to the question, what on earth makes you think that religion will?

Just because science so far has failed to explain something, such as consciousness, to say it follows that the facile, pathetic explanations which religion has produced somehow by default must win the argument is really quite ridiculous.

Nobody has an explanation for consciousness. That should be a spur to work harder and try to understand it. Not to give up and just say, "Oh well, it must be a soul."

That doesn't mean anything. It doesn't explain anything. You've said absolutely nothing when you've said that.

Now, Dr. Dawkins is right when he states that we don't know the answer to conciousness, but I believe he is dead wrong in saying that a religious explanation has no merit. (This in spite of the fact that I have absolutely no use for any mainstream religion whether it be Christianity, Islam or Buddhism. They are just interpretations of the Divine that are flawed by human agendas and purposes!)

We cannot look upon this marvelous Universe without some degree of awe and wonder. The notion that all of creation is only a matter of chance and random luck would be as big a fallacy as as making proclamations of blind faith to a belief system that was thought up by some fast talking shaman.

We have to look upon conciousness as our link with the Divine - since this seems to be the root of its purpose. We are living in the here and now of this Universe and although we have some empirical evidence of other planes of existence they are by their very nature beyond our ken.

This by no means precludes their own reality in a way that is not verifiable by us and this is where conciousness could play a role. It might be a link with other realities and this allows us to make conjectures about their validity.

From the book: "The Plain Truth About God-101" (what the church doesn't want you to know!)

The gulf between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom is so great because of our unique outlook and appreciation of existence! (Conciousness)

As far as we know, not even the great apes, dolphins, whales, dogs, cats, or any other living thing, has ever given even the slightest thought to our reason for being here!

You will never hear fido say to you, "What's it all about - Alfie.”

People, on the other hand, spend an inordinate amount of time and effort on the question of purpose. So much so, that it seems to influence almost every aspect of not only our lives, but everything around us.

We might see flashes of pseudo-cognizance in fido's eyes every now and then, but I can tell you for sure that fido and his buddies do not sit around and discuss the merits of art or literature!

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God-101 (what the church doesn't want you to know!) at; www.God-101.com
And the petition to have people mind their own business instead of yours at; http://www.petitiononline.com/moses/petition.html