Gillevinia straata

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Gillevinia straata is an informal name proposed for the hypothetical martian microorganisms deemed responsible for the claimed active responses detected by the Labeled Release series of assays done in 1976 on Mars; microorganisms that the neurobiologist Mario Crocco proposes having proved their existence.

In addition to the purported determination of extraterrestrial life (which is the element of greater importance in that scientific issue), the nomenclatural action that classified these responses as metabolic and therefore belonging with a new form of life had to create superior biological categories (taxa), in the high levels of a new kingdom, biosphere and system of life, in order to be able to accommodate the genus of Martian microorganisms.

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[edit] Antecedents

In 1975 the NASA sent two probes, Viking 1 and 2, to Mars; one of the main objectives was to make tests to determine the existence of life in that planet. Only a type of experiment (made nine times) yielded positive results. Privileging the other types of experiment, an almost general consent discarded it as evidence for life, assuming that there was no Life on Mars and that it could not have it because it would be exterminated by the solar radiation. The issue remained disputed by such bodies as NASA and other countries' space missions.

[edit] Reevaluation of the data

The 2006, Mario Crocco, neurobiologist at the Neuropsychiatric Hospital Borda in Buenos Aires, (Argentina) made a reevaluation of the data collected by that mission, in the light of recent discoveries. The article was published in Electroneurobiología, a State journal published by the same Neuropsychiatric Hospital Borda; hat devotes a section to basic concepts in theoretical biology.

On these data, which had accumulated very recently, and the concept of life held in their scientific tradition, they concluded that the results are consistent with the presence of microbial life in the surface of the planet, and have proposed the name Gillevinia straata.[1] to honor the responsibles of the Viking experiment that yielded positive results. Biological nomenclature is an important step forward in a case for life. Formally, it changes the charge of proof: anyone wishing to oppose to it now should publish a discussion showing that Gillevinia straata is in fact an abiotic source of the 1976 observations.

Later, in a Seminar of the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution (Washington, USA), the investigation was submitted. A summary of the work in this seminary can be read in the preprint archives kept by the Cornell University[2], although it does not mean that the investigation has been reviewed experimentally by the scientific, and recognized officially like correct. Yet if new missions' probes gather data compatible with the Viking observations of metabolic activity, the name Gillevinia straata holds a priority to name its producing agent. Cornell scientists have directed many of the life searches conducted by the NASA in Mars and other planets. The NASA has maintained silence with respect to this investigation. Some interpret this silence as being afraid to lose credibility[citation needed]. The general conclusion assumed also by the NASA, that there was no life on the Martian surface, took it to quit sterilizing the ships. In this it was followed by the Soviet and European missions, although the negative results do not suppose life absence.

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Crocco, M. (2007), Los taxones mayores de la vida orgánica y la nomenclatura de la vida en Marte: primera clasificación biológica de un organismo marciano (ubicación de los agentes activos de la Misión Vikingo de 1976 en la taxonomía y sistemática biológica). Electroneurobiología 15 (2), 1-34; http://electroneubio.secyt.gov.ar/First_biological_classification_Martian_organism.pdf
  2. ^ The Carnegie Institution Geophysical Laboratory Seminar, "Analysis of evidence of Mars life" held 05/14/2007; Summary of the lecture given by Gilbert V. Levin, Ph.D. http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.3176

[edit] See also

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