British scientists claim to have found “alien” organisms in Earth’s atmosphere, suggesting that life is continually arriving to our planet from space and did not originate here.
The team, led by the University of Sheffield, found small organisms that could have come from space after sending a specially designed balloon to 27 km into the stratosphere during the recent Perseid meteor shower.
“Most people will assume that these biological particles must have just drifted up to the stratosphere from Earth, but it is generally accepted that a particle of the size found cannot be lifted from Earth to heights of, for example, 27 km,” said professor Milton Wainwright from the university’s department of molecular biology and biotechnology.
“The only known exception is by a violent volcanic eruption, none of which occurred within three years of the sampling trip... we can only conclude that the biological entities originated from space,” he said.
“Our conclusion then is that life is continually arriving to Earth from space, life is not restricted to this planet and it almost certainly did not originate here,” he added.
“If life does continue to arrive from space then we have to completely change our view of biology and evolution. New textbooks will have to be written!” Mr Wainwright said.
They discovered that they had captured a diatom fragment and some unusual biological entities from the stratosphere, all of which are too large to have come from Earth.