[ExI] Life must be everywhere!

[Eugen Leitl]

On Sun, Apr 15, 2012 at 12:26:13AM +0200, Anders Sandberg wrote:

> Bacteria have been grown under 100,000 Gs. It is not the shock that is  
> the problem. The problem is any temperature above (say) 200 degrees C.

Nobody remembers this article? I thought we discussed it here.

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/290/5492/791.abstract

Science 27 October 2000:
Vol. 290 no. 5492 pp. 791-795
DOI: 10.1126/science.290.5492.791

    Report

A Low Temperature Transfer of ALH84001 from Mars to Earth

    Benjamin P. Weiss1,*,
    Joseph L. Kirschvink1,
    Franz J. Baudenbacher2,
    Hojatollah Vali3,
    Nick T. Peters2,
    Francis A. Macdonald1 and
    John P. Wikswo2

+ Author Affiliations

    1 Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, 170-25, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
    2 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, 6301 Stevenson Center, Nashville, TN 37235, USA.
    3 Electron Microscopy Centre, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology and Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, McGill University, 3640 University Street, Montreal QC H3A 2B2, Canada.

Abstract

The ejection of material from Mars is thought to be caused by large impacts that would heat much of the ejecta to high temperatures. Images of the magnetic field of martian meteorite ALH84001 reveal a spatially heterogeneous pattern of magnetization associated with fractures and rock fragments. Heating the meteorite to 40°C reduces the intensity of some magnetic features, indicating that the interior of the rock has not been above this temperature since before its ejection from the surface of Mars. Because this temperature cannot sterilize most bacteria or eukarya, these data support the hypothesis that meteorites could transfer life between planets in the solar system.