E.T. For Real: Cells From Red Rain Can Reproduce, May Be From "Out There"

This article is odious science journalism hackery. Not to mention that it's just a dimwitted rehash of an old tale.

Sadly, it will probably be blindly picked up and run by many of the usual big media outlets without a moment's worth of fact-checking, much less the slightest application of common sense.

"simple microbes found in beer can live in the radiation-soaked vacuum of space ..."

Bloody hell - THEY WERE FOUND IN A PLACE CALLED BEER, a village on the South coast of England!

Fast Company News - With a banner head that says "Lady Gaga, The 100 Most Creative People" and a video clip of Peter Gabriel singing "red rain" as evidence, you just know the article is going to be good!

This appears to be an old story that was put to bed quite some time ago- the "particles" are to spores of a very common lichen. You can get the full story (as well as the story of the gentleman claiming they are extraterrestrial from Wikipedia...

For those interested in the wikipedia article cwarner7 cites, please see:

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Red_rain_in_Kerala

and, I say, particularly the paragraph toward the end:

"Regarding the "absence" of DNA, Louis' only attempt to stain the spore's DNA was by the use of malachite green, which is generally used to stain bacterial endospores, not algal spores.^[35] Visualising algal spore DNA under a light microscope can be difficult due to the impermeability of the highly resistant spore wall to dyes and stains used in normal staining procedures. In order to stain the spores' DNA, which is tightly packed, encapsulated and desiccated, spores must first be cultured in suitable growth medium and temperature in order to induce germination."

Still, it makes for some great SF - more so than would "The Housewives of Cincinatti."