🚀 The Controversial Claim of Extraterrestrial Life in the Polonnaruwa Meteorite

The Earth is often likened to a mere grain of sand on a vast cosmic beach. This is because, in the immense universe, our planet is just a tiny speck among countless celestial bodies of colossal size. Within our own Solar System, for instance, there are planets much larger than Earth, such as Jupiter and Saturn.

Given the sheer vastness of the cosmos, it is no surprise that many people are curious: Are there other planets inhabited by living organisms? Although no one has yet provided a definitive answer, many suspect that extraterrestrial life, or aliens, truly exists. Some even claim that aliens have made appearances on Earth.

One significant event that highlighted humanity's search for answers about extraterrestrial life occurred at the end of 2012. On December 29, 2012, a meteorite was reported to have fallen in a rice field near the town of Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka. As news of the discovery spread, Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe from Buckingham University, England, rushed to the site. He collected several fragments for further examination in his laboratory. Upon concluding his analysis, he issued a stunning statement: the meteorite contained evidence of life in space.

Wickramasinghe and his colleagues claimed this after conducting intensive scans using an electron microscope. Based on the scans, they discovered an unusual trace: plant-based micro-organism fossils (phytoplankton) embedded in the meteorite.

"We conclude that the identification of diatom fossils (a type of vegetable plankton) in the Polonnaruwa meteorite has a strong foundation and there is no doubt," Wickramasinghe stated in his research paper published in the Journal of Cosmology. He claimed that this discovery validated the theory of panspermia—the idea that life on Earth originated from outer space, potentially delivered via meteorites.

The Academic Backlash

The issuance of these claims immediately created an uproar among academics. This was because, prior to this, no convincing scientific evidence had been provided for the origin of life on Earth starting from space.

Patrik Kociolek, a diatom expert, was one of the skeptics. He argued that the presence of plant-based micro-organisms in the fragments did not necessarily prove they originated from space. He contended that the diatoms found were organisms native to Earth that adhered to the rock when it fell into the watery environment of the rice field.

Kociolek was explicit in his rebuttal: “Wickramasinghe and his colleagues are not only wrong, but they are also very wrong. Life on Earth is not from this stone. Rather, it is precisely life on Earth that seeps into this stone.”

He further questioned, "Why can organisms originating from outer space develop into species that live in different environments? And how can these species show extraordinary similarities to the species that live on Earth? We can argue that the answer is because the creatures attached to the meteorites are the result of contamination [from the Earth's environment]."

Wickramasinghe's Defense

Facing such criticism, Wickramasinghe's team defended their findings. They argued that the algae they found were embedded in layers too deep within the fragments. According to them, if the algae had originated from the water where the meteorite fell, the organisms would not have sunk to such depths.

Regarding the criticism about the algae's striking similarity to terrestrial algae, they explained this as a result of convergent evolution. In this phenomenon, two organisms living in different environments can still evolve and adapt using the same methods if both environments share similar conditions.

Wickramasinghe and his colleagues provided additional support by stating that, based on oxygen and nitrogen isotope tests, the fossilized micro-organisms were not creatures native to Earth, reinforcing their belief that they arrived on Earth via the meteorite fragments.

The Doubt Persists

Despite the defense, many remain skeptical. Some even speculate that the stones examined were not meteorites at all, but ordinary terrestrial stones. Others suggested that the celestial sight reported by locals was merely another natural phenomenon, such as lightning.

“They analyzed the rocks using a variety of techniques, but none of these strategies showed that the stone truly originated as a meteorite,” explained cosmologist Phil Plait. “One of these techniques is the investigation of oxygen isotopes. Generally, the proportion of these stable oxygen isotopes will differ depending on where the rock originated in the Solar System.”

Plait elaborated: "If you take a few pieces of stone and get a report, then compare it with a stone from Mars, for example, you will get a different report. On this basis, you can assume that the stone [studied by Wickramasinghe] is a stone derived from the Earth." Though Wickramasinghe claimed that the isotope levels were unlike those typically found in terrestrial rocks, NASA's Barbara Cohen doubted the rock's extraterrestrial origin.

Cohen's skepticism stemmed from the fact that Wickramasinghe's team had not used a strong acidic liquid to clean the carbonate layers of the stone before testing. If the rock had been on Earth for some time, carbonate molecules would have formed on the outer layers, potentially altering the rock's isotope content. Since Wickramasinghe did not perform this preliminary cleaning, the stone's isotope levels were considered unreliable as proof of its space origin.

Concluding his analysis, Plait stressed: "There is no strong evidence to support their case (Wickramasinghe). So, the assessment that the stone is a rock commonly found in wetlands and has been around long enough to be filled with Earth's diatoms is a conclusion that makes more sense to me."

Plait further clarified that Wickramasinghe did not utilize standard techniques—such as examining mineral substances to determine the rock's geological history—that are typically used to confirm a rock's cosmic origin.

Given the conflicting explanations, it remains difficult to ascertain whether the Polonnaruwa meteorite truly contains evidence of life in space. Nevertheless, even if the rock studied by Wickramasinghe did not originate from outside Earth, it does not preclude the possibility that other forms of life exist elsewhere. When and how humans will encounter these life forms is a question only time and the advancement of human technology can answer. 

📚 Reading References

• http://internetweek.cz/meteorit/je-meteorit-polonnaruwa-dukazem-mimozemskeho-zivota 
• https://tn.nova.cz/clanek/zpravy/zahranici/zkaza-z-vesmiru-kazdy-tri-roky-vleti-zemi-do-cesty-obri-asteroid.html 
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polonnaruwa_(meteorite 
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkN8p5DDnSs

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