Seven Alien Misconceptions Revisited: Part Two

The scientific community and the general community tend to have differences of opinion over the topic of extraterrestrial life, especially intelligent extraterrestrial life with advanced technological capabilities. The scientific community tends to be ultra conservative; the great unwashed are way less critical since they get their news and views from the tabloids and sci-fi programs. Perhaps the middle ground is a more viable option than either side’s extremely conservative or uncritical point of view. 

An article titled “7 Huge Misconceptions about Aliens” by Natalie Wolchover has appeared recently on several websites including Space.com; Life’s Little Mysteries (prime site); and the Huffington Post (abridged to just five). It’s all about how scientists view the existence and nature of advanced ET as opposed to the more common perceptions of the great unwashed. The following comments are my addressing of the common misconceptions raised. Let’s see if I agree or disagree with the verdicts, and most important, why. Oh, of course the “THEY” referred to is our intelligent and technologically advanced ET. 

Continued from yesterday’s blog…

THEY WON’T EAT US: Agree

Alien biochemistry wouldn’t be absolutely identical to our biochemistry. So, we might as well be as indigestible to them as cellulose is to us. We’d give them the equivalent of an alien tummy ache. That aside: if aliens arrive from there to here, then presumably they know how to produce ‘artificial’ food supplements – produce their nutritional requirements from raw materials. I mean there are no supermarkets or fast food joints along the interstellar highway. Of course if aliens have master-chefs, well perhaps they might like to take a human or two and sauté them up in a super-duper alien stew. There’s an awful lot of missing persons who forever seem to remain missing! So where on (or off) Earth is Jimmy Hoffa, the crew of Flight 19, Glenn Miller, the crew of the Mary Celeste, or for that matter the entire Ninth Roman Legion? Joking aside, if humans are a food of last resort, well then, the cosmos is way more resource impoverished than I would have thought possible. 

THEY’RE IMMUNE TO EARTH’S BACTERIA: Agree

Alien biochemistry wouldn’t be absolutely identical to our biochemistry. Our biochemistry isn’t 100% identical with the biochemistry of other terrestrial species. And thus, 99.9% of the diseases that afflict one species can’t be passed onto another species. My cat sneezes – I don’t catch their cold. I sneeze – my cats don’t catch my cold. I can’t catch Dutch Elm Disease; Elm trees are pretty safe from all the germs I carry around and about with me. So, the odds ET will catch terrestrial diseases and vice versa are pretty damn slim. But, another reason is that presumably ET is pretty skilled when it comes to medicine. If there was any chance Earth’s microorganisms could infect ET, well ET would have tested for that in advance and done the proper procedures to nullify any potential threat. The “War of the Worlds” scenario and resolution is ultimately bovine fertilizer. 

THEY DIDN’T PUT US HERE: Disagree

Why would aliens ‘create’ humans? Why do humans ‘create’ slavery or jobs or employ beasts of burden, even if mechanical, perhaps ultimately robotic? The ultimate answer: to get someone or something else to do the bloody hard work! If you vacation at a resort, you expect to be waited on hand-and-foot. Well, when Mr. ET arrived on this third rock resort, ET wanted to be waited on hand-and-foot too; and worshiped to boot. You’ll find lots of references to that in various cultural mythologies. So, ET created humans, not from dust or clay or even ribs but from manipulating pre-existing primate stock via their advanced knowledge of artificial selection breeding techniques. Humans too know all about artificial selection – how many unnatural breeds of dogs have we created? Is there a single domesticated plant or animal we haven’t in a sense ‘created’? When you stop and think about it, don’t humans too come in ‘breeds’ (only we call them races). 

THEY WON”T COME IN PEACE: Disagree

Many a scientist has warned that we shouldn’t draw attention to ourselves (that’s already too little and too late a wish) or seek out aliens. We might wish aliens to exist, but we must be careful what we wish for. A lot of that is based on all the examples of terrestrial exploration. The discovered are not usually treated well by the discoverer. Cue case histories of the American Indian, the Aztecs and Incas, the Australian aborigines, and all manner of other invasions perpetrated by one or more nations / cultures / peoples against another. All of our actual exploitation histories are reinforced by hundreds of Sci-Fi films and TV shows that suggest in no uncertain terms that when aliens discover Earth, Earthlings are up shit creek!

Ultimately, these sorts of terrestrial doings and undoings have two basic root causes – resources are one such cause. You need more land because you need expansion room for your ‘fruitful and multiplying’ population, and/or the natural resources found there. Perhaps however, if aliens can again get from there to here, then they already have the resources of the Milky Way Galaxy under their ‘thumbs’ – assuming thumbs of course – or at their fingertips (or should that be tentacle-tips?). Earth has nothing to offer in terms of additional real estate, water, energy, minerals, etc. that can’t be found closer to their home turf.

The second root cause is someone else, some other nation or nations is/are perceived as a threat. The threat(s) you perceive maybe military, maybe political, maybe cultural or maybe religious. If you deem yourself in the stronger position, you may decide to hit first, hit hard and hit often. If your next door neighbor is no threat to you and has nothing of value you want, you’re going to tend to just live and let live. Well as far as any technologically advanced aliens are concerned, this here third rock and inhabitants is no threat to them and has nothing of value they can’t acquire closer to home at vastly less effort and expense.

“Independence Day” and a thousand clones of that plot element are highly improbable in the extreme. Highly improbable is not of course the same as impossible. 

But, and why is there nearly always a but, it’s within the realm of possibility that there might be those aliens who parallel those humans who don’t mind sticking a knife in your back just because they derive great kicks and great pleasure out of doing so. No motive other than sadistic pleasure and a sense of being ‘king of the hill’. But then again, perhaps there’s also an interplanetary extraterrestrial police force to help curb the enthusiasm of such alien backstabbers.

Now what’s never mentioned, but really terrifying, and perhaps more likely and what we may really need to worry about is that they’ll come in peace alright, but as missionaries to spread the word that their version of a supreme being(s) is the only true version of a supreme being(s) and that all of us terrestrial heathen, pagan infidels had better see the error of our untrue faiths and convert to their extraterrestrial theology quick-smart. Although you’d hope that advanced alien beings would have long since out-evolved such religious nonsense, that’s not a given. That missionary scenario is even more frightening than them coming here with their ray guns blasting away. So if those extraterrestrial evangelists come knocking at your door, be afraid, be very afraid!

But ultimately there’s no point in worrying about things that we have no control over, and since we can’t hide Earth (and ourselves) in a technological cloak of invisibility, we’re at the mercy of ET: the good ET, the bad ET and the ugly ET. 

Exobiology: Germs from Space: Part Two

So what to make of the late Sir Fred Hoyle’s et al. claims or ideas that some of our terrestrial disease outbreaks originated from outer space? It’s a variation on the panspermia idea – life on Earth originated from extraterrestrial microbiological life forms seeding our planet.

The Fred Hoyle Scenario:

It’s well established that interstellar space is full of gas and dust. What came as a surprise was the unexpected discovery that many of those interstellar regions are also rich in organic molecules. Organic means that the compounds contain carbon, one of the elemental building blocks central to biology – along with hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, also well represented in interstellar gas and dust clouds. Many dozens of organic compounds have now been verified in the reaches of outer space, more than a few highly complex organic molecules, many associated in one way or another with life and biological processes.

Also verified has been the discovery that actual life forms, albeit simple microbial ones like bacteria, can, if not thrive, at least survive the rigors of outer space with minor shielding (say dust particles) to protect again harmful radiation. Terrestrial bacteria have survived three years on the Moon as demonstrated when the Apollo 12 astronauts brought back from the Moon pieces of the Surveyor III Lunar Lander, which had landed on the lunar surface three years prior. Experiments in Earth orbit have confirmed that some terrestrial microbes can boldly go in the cold and vacuum of space. 

Not so verified, but highly plausible, is the idea that simple life forms can be transported throughout the galaxy, hitching rides on dust particles, even larger objects like small hunks of rock that were ejected from their home planet. Recall the Martian meteorite (ALH84001) found in Antarctica which showed various lines of evidence that it was home to ancient fossilized Martian microbes. The controversy over that still hasn’t been resolved to the satisfaction of all.

Comets are known to be rich in organics, ditto some asteroids, and some have claimed that debris, say chips of an asteroid that have impacted and landed on Earth as a meteorite have ‘organised elements’ inside them suggestive of unicellular life forms. The possibility of course exists that those ‘organised elements’ were terrestrial contamination, since it can often be a long time between the fall of a meteor, and the discovery and analysis of the meteorite it became.   

The late Sir Fred Hoyle, along with several colleagues, most notable of which was Chandra Wickramasinghe, went a few steps further. Not only were there simple life forms in the depths of outer space, not only could they have seeded suitable planets with life – like Earth – but they to this very day rain down upon us. Further, they provide a far more logical explanation for various epidemics, maybe pandemics, experienced here on Earth. Why should some of these extraterrestrial bacteria be potentially infectious to us?  Well, if these microbes are the same sorts of microbes as seeded Earth ‘in the beginning’, that is were responsible for kick-starting life on Earth; providing the origin or life on Earth, then we share a common ancestry with them. We evolved from them over all those billions of years. Looking at it another way, we, in fact all life on Earth, really isn’t terrestrial life, but extraterrestrial life. We are the aliens!

Anyway, how does it happen? Specifically that is, or at least one mechanism, Earth’s orbit intersects now and again a stream of bacteria-laden cometary dust and debris – germs from outer space – that impact Earth’s atmosphere and ultimately filter down (perhaps incorporated in rain drops) to ground level and do their infectious thing.

However, to be fair, to state that their ideas are controversial is very definitely an understatement. For their side of the story, you’ll need to examine the evidence they present in there books (see further readings).

So, is there a conflict with extraterrestrial bacteria escaping out of a UFO and having no impact on the terrestrial biosphere and extraterrestrial bacteria arriving from interstellar gas and dust clouds, or cometary and/or asteroid debris? Well, there’s no conflict IMHO. The two sources of alien microbes are just that – two independent extraterrestrial sources that have no connection with each other. Of course relatively few experts in infectious diseases give any credibility to Hoyle’s theory so that might eliminate that. Then too many scientists don’t give any credibility to the UFO extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH), hence to alien microbes originating from that source. However, whether none, one or both ideas have or lack credibility doesn’t result in any ultimate contradictions.

Further readings:

Hoyle, Fred; Evolution from Space: The Omni Lecture Delivered at the Royal Institution, London on 12 January 1982; University College Cardiff Press, Cardiff; 1982:

Hoyle, Fred & Wickramasinghe, Chandra; Cosmic Life-Force; J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd, London; 1988: 

Hoyle, Fred & Wickramasinghe, Chandra; Diseases from Space; J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd, London; 1979:

Hoyle, Fred & Wickramasinghe, Chandra; Evolution from Space; J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd, London; 1981:

Hoyle, Fred & Wickramasinghe, Chandra; From Grains to Bacteria; University College Cardiff Press, Cardiff; 1984:

Hoyle, Fred & Wickramasinghe, Chandra; Life on Mars? The Case for A Cosmic Heritage; Clinical Press Limited, Bristol; 1997: [Note: This title is very misleading. It has nearly bugger-all to do with Mars but everything to do with panspermia.]

Hoyle, Fred & Wickramasinghe, Chandra; Lifecloud: The Origin of Life in the Universe; J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd, London; 1978:

Hoyle, Fred & Wickramasinghe, Chandra; Living Comets; University College Cardiff Press, Cardiff; 1985:

Hoyle, Fred & Wickramasinghe, Chandra; Our Place in the Cosmos: The Unfinished Revolution; J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd, London; 1993:

Hoyle, Fred & Wickramasinghe, Chandra; Proofs That Life Is Cosmic; Memoirs of the Institute of Fundamental Studies, Sri Lanka; December 1982:

Hoyle, Fred & Wickramasinghe, Chandra; Space Travellers: The Bringers of Life; University College Cardiff Press, Cardiff; 1981:

Hoyle, Fred, Wickramasinghe, Chandra & Watkins, John; Viruses from Space; University College Cardiff Press, Cardiff; 1986:

Ponnamperuma, Cyril (Editor); Comets and the Origin of Life; D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland; 1981:

Seargent, David A.J.; Genesis Stone? The Murchison Meteorite and the Beginnings of Life; Karagi Publications, The Entrance, NSW: 1991:

Exobiology: Germs from Space: Part One

In the original “War of the Worlds” novel, our Martian invaders where thwarted not by us high and mighty humans, but by humble terrestrial bacteria who just ate them up! The question therefore is would extraterrestrial ‘bacteria’ find us (terrestrial life) a nice snack? The answers could be both ‘yes’ and ‘no’.

The War of the Worlds Scenario:

No, I don’t mean by this that there is any analogy between the UFO extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) and alien invasion, a typical example being the “War of the Worlds” (be it the original novel, the movies, the TV series, the musical, etc.). I refer here to the ultimate resolution of that alien war scenario – that ultimately what defeated the Martians were terrestrial microbes – bacteria to which the alien invaders had no resistance. That was a really excellent plot device – it was also lousy science! If there is one truism in biology, it is that cross-species infection is rare. There are of course a few exceptions to the cross-species infection rule, but they remain by far a minor, minor, minority. Micro-organisms tend to be species specific in terms of their nastiness. Thus, if I sneeze, my cats aren’t in any danger of catching my cold – and vice versa. I’m not about to infect any of my garden plants by touching them with my dirty soiled hands – I’m not likely to become infected with a deadly disease from a maple tree. If a wild bird has beak and feather disease and my cats should happen to catch and eat it – well, the bird was doomed anyway, and I’m not going to have to rush the feline predator off to the vet for shots! So, if it is relatively unlikely for one terrestrial species to be a contagion towards another terrestrial species (unless they are very closely related – evolutionary speaking), then what odds a terrestrial species will be deadly to an extraterrestrial species – and vice versa.

What’s the point of all this? Well, if UFOs can be explained by the ETH, then it is unlikely in the extreme that the ETH exists in a species vacuum. That is, ‘ufonauts’ (for lack of a better term), more commonly known as ‘the greys’, will be associated with their extraterrestrial micro-organisms (maybe ever their extraterrestrial equivalents of head lice, mites, bedbugs, cockroaches and rats depending on how hygienic they are). We do not exist in a bacteria free environment, nor could we even if we wanted to. ‘Ufonaut’ bodies and their UFOs will be as ‘bacteria-ridden’ as our bodies, our homes, automobiles, and in fact any and all other bits and pieces of our environment. We haven’t endured or experienced any pandemic or epidemic due to micro-organisms associated with ‘ufonauts’, and presumably ‘ufonauts’ haven’t caught cold or smallpox or the measles from microbes associated with us, our cats, birds, or any other terrestrial life forms.

So, UFO sceptics can’t invoke the “War of the Worlds” resolution as an argument that the UFO ETH is an invalid one. So, by all means, shake hands with an extraterrestrial (ET - if you meet him/her/it) and don’t worry about any resulting medical bill – it ain’t gonna happen.

However, this does open up an interesting research area – one I’ve never, ever, seen mentioned in the UFO literature. That is, extraterrestrial microbiology. If UFOs are piloted by alien beings, biological beings that must be associated with extraterrestrial micro-organisms, then presumably said ET microbes have entered into our terrestrial biosphere. Presumably, said ET microbes would be so biochemically distinct or unique that any microbiologist examining same would immediately note that something was afoot! Of course, if you’re not looking out for it, you’re unlikely to find it or get that ‘eureka’ moment even if you do find it. Perhaps UFO abductees or UFO landing sites should be examined for the presence of extraterrestrial microbes.

So what then to make of the late Sir Fred Hoyle’s et al. claims or ideas that some of our terrestrial disease outbreaks originated from outer space? It’s a variation on the panspermia idea – life on Earth originated from extraterrestrial microbiological life forms seeding our planet.

To be continued...

UFOs: Bits and Pieces: Germs from Space: The Fred Hoyle Scenario

With both the existence of pure theory and applied evidence supporting the plausibility of the UFO extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) – where the UFO remains a UFO after appropriate expert analysis has failed to find a more terrestrial explanation – lets look at a few snippets of the phenomena, though this time it’s not really about UFOs, the bringers of alien germs, but something more natural as a bringer of germs – panspermia – especially as championed by the scientist, Fred Hoyle.  

So what then to make of the late Sir Fred Hoyle’s et al. claims or ideas that some of our terrestrial disease outbreaks originated from outer space? It’s a variation on the panspermia idea – life on Earth originated from extraterrestrial microbiological life forms seeding our planet.

The Fred Hoyle Scenario:

It’s well established that interstellar space is full of gas and dust. What came as a surprise was the unexpected discovery that many of those interstellar regions are also rich in organic molecules. Organic means that the compounds contain carbon, one of the elemental building blocks central to biology – along with hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, also well represented in interstellar gas and dust clouds. Many dozens of organic compounds have now been verified in the reaches of outer space, more than a few highly complex organic molecules, many associated in one way or another with life and biological processes.

Also verified has been the discovery that actual life forms, albeit simple microbial ones like bacteria, can, if not thrive, at least survive the rigors of outer space with minor shielding (say dust particles) to protect again harmful radiation. Terrestrial bacteria have survived three years on the Moon as demonstrated when the Apollo 12 astronauts brought back from the Moon pieces of the Surveyor III Lunar Lander, which had landed on the lunar surface three years prior. Experiments in Earth orbit have confirmed that some terrestrial microbes can boldly go in the cold and vacuum of space. 

Not so verified, but highly plausible, is the idea that simple life forms can be transported throughout the galaxy, hitching rides on dust particles, even larger objects like small hunks of rock that were ejected from their home planet. Recall the Martian meteorite (ALH84001) found in Antarctica which showed various lines of evidence that it was home to ancient fossilized Martian microbes. The controversy over that still hasn’t been resolved to the satisfaction of all.

Comets are known to be rich in organics, ditto some asteroids, and some have claimed that debris, say chips of an asteroid that have impacted and landed on Earth as a meteorite have ‘organised elements’ inside them suggestive of unicellular life forms. The possibility of course exists that those ‘organised elements’ were terrestrial contamination, since it can often be a long time between the fall of a meteor, and the discovery and analysis of the meteorite it became.   

The late Sir Fred Hoyle, along with several colleagues, most notable of which was Chandra Wickramasinghe, went a few steps further. Not only were there simple life forms in the depths of outer space, not only could they have seeded suitable planets with life – like Earth – but they to this very day rain down upon us. Further, they provide a far more logical explanation for various epidemics, maybe pandemics, experienced here on Earth. Why should some of these extraterrestrial bacteria be potentially infectious to us?  Well, if these microbes are the same sorts of microbes as seeded Earth ‘in the beginning’, that is were responsible for kick-starting life on Earth; providing the origin or life on Earth, then we share a common ancestry with them. We evolved from them over all those billions of years. Looking at it another way, we, in fact all life on Earth, really isn’t terrestrial life, but extraterrestrial life. We are the aliens!

Anyway, how does it happen? Specifically that is, or at least one mechanism, Earth’s orbit intersects now and again a stream of bacteria-laden cometary dust and debris – germs from outer space – that impact Earth’s atmosphere and ultimately filter down (perhaps incorporated in rain drops) to ground level and do their infectious thing.

However, to be fair, to state that their ideas are controversial is very definitely an understatement. For their side of the story, you’ll need to examine the evidence they present in there books (see further readings).

Further readings:

Hoyle, Fred; Evolution from Space: The Omni Lecture Delivered at the Royal Institution, London on 12 January 1982; University College Cardiff Press, Cardiff; 1982:

Hoyle, Fred & Wickramasinghe, Chandra; Cosmic Life-Force; J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd, London; 1988:  

Hoyle, Fred & Wickramasinghe, Chandra; Diseases from Space; J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd, London; 1979:

Hoyle, Fred & Wickramasinghe, Chandra; Evolution from Space; J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd, London; 1981:

Hoyle, Fred & Wickramasinghe, Chandra; From Grains to Bacteria; University College Cardiff Press, Cardiff; 1984:

Hoyle, Fred & Wickramasinghe, Chandra; Life on Mars? The Case for A Cosmic Heritage; Clinical Press Limited, Bristol; 1997: [Note: This title is very misleading. It has nearly bugger-all to do with Mars but everything to do with panspermia.]

Hoyle, Fred & Wickramasinghe, Chandra; Lifecloud: The Origin of Life in the Universe; J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd, London; 1978:

Hoyle, Fred & Wickramasinghe, Chandra; Living Comets; University College Cardiff Press, Cardiff; 1985:

Hoyle, Fred & Wickramasinghe, Chandra; Our Place in the Cosmos: The Unfinished Revolution; J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd, London; 1993:

Hoyle, Fred & Wickramasinghe, Chandra; Proofs That Life Is Cosmic; Memoirs of the Institute of Fundamental Studies, Sri Lanka; December 1982:

Hoyle, Fred & Wickramasinghe, Chandra; Space Travellers: The Bringers of Life; University College Cardiff Press, Cardiff; 1981:

Hoyle, Fred, Wickramasinghe, Chandra & Watkins, John; Viruses from Space; University College Cardiff Press, Cardiff; 1986:

Ponnamperuma, Cyril (Editor); Comets and the Origin of Life; D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland; 1981:

Seargent, David A.J.; Genesis Stone? The Murchison Meteorite and the Beginnings of Life; Karagi Publications, The Entrance, New South Wales: 1991:

UFOs: Bits and Pieces: Germs from Space: The War of the Worlds

With both the existence of pure theory and applied evidence supporting the plausibility of the UFO extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) – where the UFO remains a UFO after appropriate expert analysis has failed to find a more terrestrial explanation – lets look at a few snippets of the phenomena, this time UFOs, the bringers of alien germs?

In the original “War of the Worlds” novel, our Martian invaders where thwarted not by us high and mighty humans, but by humble terrestrial bacteria who just ate them up! The question therefore is would extraterrestrial ‘bacteria’ find us (terrestrial life) a nice snack? The answers could be both ‘yes’ and ‘no’.

We all know the “War of the Worlds” scenario. No, this ain’t it because I don’t mean by this that there is any analogy between the UFO ETH and alien invasion, a typical example being the “War of the Worlds” (be it the novel, the movies, the TV series, the musical, etc.). I refer here to the ultimate resolution of that alien war scenario – that ultimately what defeated the Martians were terrestrial microbes – bacteria to which the alien invaders had no resistance. That was a really excellent plot device – it was also lousy science! If there is one truism in biology, it is that cross-species infection is rare. There are of course a few exceptions to the cross-species infection rule, but they remain by far a minor, minor, minority. Micro-organisms tend to be species specific in terms of their nastiness. Thus, if I sneeze, my cats aren’t in any danger of catching my cold – and vice versa. I’m not about to infect any of my garden plants by touching them with my dirty soiled hands – I’m not likely to become infected with deadly disease from a maple tree. If a wild bird has beak and feather disease and my cats should happen to catch and eat it – well, the bird was doomed anyway, and I’m not going to have to rush the feline predator off to the vet for shots! So, if it is relatively unlikely for one terrestrial species to be a contagion towards another terrestrial species (unless they are very closely related – evolutionary speaking), then what odds a terrestrial species will be deadly to an extraterrestrial species – and vice versa.

What’s the point of all this? Well, if UFOs can be explained by the ETH, then it is unlikely in the extreme that the ETH exists in a species vacuum. That is, ‘ufonauts’ (for lack of a better term), will be associated with their extraterrestrial micro-organisms (maybe ever their extraterrestrial equivalents of head lice, mites, bedbugs, cockroaches and rats depending on how hygienic they are). We do not exist in a bacteria free environment, nor could we even if we wanted to. ‘Ufonaut’ bodies and their UFOs will be as ‘bacteria-ridden’ as our bodies, our homes, automobiles, and in fact any and all other bits and pieces of our environment. We haven’t endured or experienced any pandemic or epidemic due to micro-organisms associated with ‘ufonauts’, and presumably ‘ufonauts’ haven’t caught cold or smallpox or the measles from microbes associated with us, our cats, birds, or any other terrestrial life forms.

So, UFO sceptics can’t invoke the “War of the Worlds” resolution as an argument that the UFO ETH is an invalid one. So, by all means, shake hands with ET (if you meet him/her/it) and don’t worry about any resulting medical bill – it ain’t gonna happen.

However, this does open up an interesting research area – one I’ve never, ever, seen mentioned in the UFO literature. That is, extraterrestrial microbiology. If UFOs are piloted by alien beings, biological beings that must be associated with extraterrestrial micro-organisms, then presumably said ET microbes have entered into our terrestrial biosphere. Presumably, said ET microbes would be so biochemically distinct or unique that any microbiologist examining same would immediately note that something was afoot! Of course, if you’re not looking out for it, you’re unlikely to find it or get that ‘eureka’ moment even if you do find it. Perhaps UFO abductees or UFO landing sites should be examined for the presence of extraterrestrial microbes.

So what then to make of the (late Sir) Fred Hoyle et al. claims or ideas that some of our terrestrial disease outbreaks originated from outer space? It’s a variation on the panspermia idea – life on Earth originated from extraterrestrial microbiological life forms seeding our planet. Specifically that is, Earth’s orbit intersects now and again a stream of bacteria-laden cometary dust and debris – germs from outer space – that impact Earth’s atmosphere and ultimately filter down to ground level and do their infectious thing. Well, there’s no conflict. The two sources of alien microbes are just that – two independent extraterrestrial sources that have no connection with each other. Of course relatively few experts in infectious diseases give any credibility to Hoyle’s theory so that might eliminate that. Then too many scientists give any credibility to the UFO ETH, hence to alien microbes originating from that source. Whether none, one or both ideas have credibility doesn’t result in any ultimate contradictions.

P.S. I’ll look at the Fred Hoyle ‘germs from space’ scenario in more detail next time.