From: IN%"schryver@radiks.net" "Scott Schryvers" 7-AUG-1996 11:08:59.39

NBC News at Sunrise has just announced the discovery of alien life on the planet Mars. The lifeform that became extinct more than 2 billion years ago was found as a fossil in a meteor that originated from mars and landed on earth. The fossil found was a primitive germ life form.

A: This is not cypherpunks material. I am replying to try to prevent urban legend formation (of the UFO suppression type). B: You are quite thoroughly misinformed, as is NBC News if it is claiming the same thing. What have been found are some molecules, of the type known as polycyclic hydrocarbons (same sort as makes up cholesterol, in essence), that _may_ have been produced by a lifeform. Other, unliving chemical processes, such as combustion under the proper conditions (see buckyballs & buckytubes), can produce the same thing. Yes, it _may_ be from life, but we aren't certain yet. It is most certainly not a fossil, and the type of life form that it _may_ have come from is as yet not possible to determine. -Allen, Ph.D. graduate student in microbiology and molecular genetics