R. Hoover / Journal of Cosmology An image created using a field-
emission scanning electron microscope shows a coiled filament
that was found within a carbonaceous meteorite. The scale bar
indicates a length of 20 microns. Last updated 7 p.m. ET March
8: A NASA researcher's claim that organisms from outer space
have been found within a rare class of meteorites certainly
sparked a lot of comments over the weekend, from experts on
astrobiology and microbiology as well as from the public at
large. Some of the commentators have been pretty scathing. David
Morrison, senior scientist for the NASA Astrobiology Institute,
told me in an e-mail that the paper really should have been
published on April Fool's Day. Pharyngula's P.Z. Myers, a
biologist at the University of Minnesota at Morris, said "this
work is garbage" and voiced surprise that anyone was taking it
seriously. Now the Journal of Cosmology, which published the
much-debated paper by NASA biologist Richard Hoover, has added a
batch of commentaries from a vari