Scientists in Wales said they discovered what may be a tiny form of primitive alien life that a passing comet may have dropped into Earth’s atmosphere, London’s Daily Mail newspaper reported today. Researchers said that in the filter of a high-flying balloon operated by the Indian Space Research Organization, they found a strain of bacteria unlike anything on Earth. The bacteria were found at an altitude of 10 miles and scientists from the ISRO, Cardiff University and the University of Wales College of Medicine said it may have come from a comet on a close approach to earth, according to the Daily Mail. Prof. Chandra Wickramasinghe, who is based at Cardiff University, said the discovery marked “the first time we have had direct evidence for the hypothesis that comets seed life on other planets.”
