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Category: Science & Technology
Cardiff, Wales, UK - 27 April 2006
Scientists at Cardiff University say they can confirm that DNA, the genetic blueprint for life, did exist in the mysterious red rain which fell over India in 2001.This may be a key to learning about possible lifeforms in outer space.
BSN: 0617D
STORY: RED RAIN RESEARCH
LOCATION: CARDIFF, WALES, UK
DATE SHOT: APRIL 13, 2006
TXN DATE: APRIL 27, 2006
AUDIO: NATURAL SOUND AND ENGLISH SPEECH
SHOT LIST:
(Cardiff University, 13 April 2006 + BSN ESA file)
1. Microscope shots of red rain objects (used with permission, copyright/credit Cardiff University)
2. WS researcher operates microscope
3. CU researcher operates microscope
4. CU researcher?s eye at microscope
5. Microscope shot of red rain object (used with permission, copyright/credit Cardiff University)
6. SOT (English speech) super: Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, Cardiff Centre for Astrobiology
?If there was an explosion ? ?
7. WS research assistant enters Prof Wickramasinghe?s office with envelope
8. WS Prof Wickramasinghe opens it
9. CU vials of red rain in plastic bag
10. Shot of sky at night with stars (European Space Agency pix, copyright free, BSN library)
11. Shot of comet in space (European Space Agency pix, copyright free, BSN library)
12. Animation of big bang (European Space Agency pix, copyright free, BSN library)
13. SOT (English speech) super: Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, Cardiff Centre for Astrobiology
?Whether this particular red rain ? ?
14. WS researcher testing red rain samples
15. CU researcher testing red rain samples
16. CU vial containing red rain sample
17. MS researcher syringes liquid into test tubes
18. CU researcher syringes liquid into test tubes
19. SOT (English speech) super: Professor David Lloyd, Microbiology Unit, Cardiff University
?The samples have been kept very ? ?
20. WS researcher testing samples
21. SOT (English speech) super: Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, Cardiff Centre for Astrobiology
?Our genetic cousins ? ?
22. Various shots of microscopic particles of cosmic dust collected in the upper atmosphere
SUGGESTED INTRO:
Scientists in Britain say they have confirmed that DNA, the genetic blueprint for life, does exist in the mysterious red rain which fell over the Kerala region of India, in 2001.
This could prove to be a key development in the work to find out whether there is any life form in outer space.
The blood-coloured rain caused a storm of controversy among the world?s scientists. When first analysed by Indian laboratories, it was suggested it contained unidentifiable biological cells that could have come from outer space.
Since, then, many theories have been put forward to explain the strange phenomenon, but the latest results, from studies carried out at Cardiff University in Britain, seem to confirm that the red colour does come from living cells, although where they came remains a mystery.
SCRIPT:
Seen with a powerful microscope, these are the first pictures of the strange cells which fell as red rain for six weeks, across the Kerala region of south-west India in 2001, following reports of an explosion in the sky.
Indian scientists who first analysed the rain expected to see grains of dust or sand, perhaps blown from the Sahara by freak winds. Instead, they found themselves looking at complex cell-like structures, that have many of the characteristics of living organisms. They were even more surprised to find the cells could be made to come to life and reproduce, under laboratory conditions.
SOT (English speech) super: Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, Cardiff Centre for Astrobiology
?If there was an explosion of a small piece of a comet over Kerala, and an explosion was in fact heard just minutes before the first rainfall, those particles would have drifted along a belt of latitude, but when you look at a map of the world, the latitudes west of Kerala run into the Indian Ocean and then into the Sahara. So if it fell all over that area it wouldn?t have been noticed, and in the Sahara there is not much rainfall, so the particles could have drifted a long way away and not be noticed.?
Sri Lanka-born Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe is head of the astrobiology unit of Cardiff University, in Wales. He is an internationally-renowned theoretical scientist who has been a champion of the theory of ?panspermia? for over thirty years.
Developed with the late Sir Fred Hoyle, his theory proposes that life on Earth could have been seeded from outer space by wandering comets containing organisms from other worlds.
Ridiculed for many years, the theory is now slowly being accepted by an increasing number of scientists around the world, as more evidence comes to light.
SOT (English speech) super: Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, Cardiff Centre for Astrobiology
?Whether this particular red rain came from space or not wouldn?t determine the validity of panspermia. I think that there are many other lines of evidence that are all converging on the idea that life came from space.?
The first samples of Kerala?s red rain arrived at Cardiff University?s labs last month. Intensive investigation under high-powered microscopes confirmed the cell-like structures are biological and that they do contain DNA, the blue print of all life forms on Earth. What?s not yet known is whether it is terrestrial life or alien DNA, but investigators believe they will know soon.
SOT (English speech) super: Professor David Lloyd, Microbiology Unit, Cardiff University
?The samples have been kept very carefully in aseptic conditions, so the likelihood of contamination isn?t very great. But the question of where the organisms have come from is an open one.?
The Cardiff team is now comparing DNA from the red rain with that of all known terrestrial species. It?s a long and painstaking study, but if no known DNA from Earth matches, the only remaining possibility would be that it is an alien life form from outer space.
SOT (English speech) super: Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, Cardiff Centre for Astrobiology
?Our genetic cousins are everywhere in the universe and all that happened on the Earth is that these bits and pieces of genes got together and made the entire spectrum of life that we see here on our planet?
Kerala?s red rain could yet provide conclusive evidence that the theory of panspermia is not only possible, but almost certainly was the way life started on Earth, 4 billion years ago
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