Fossils in a newly fallen meteorite?

Dr. Wickramasinge reports that a meteorite fell in Sri Lanka on Dec. 29th, 2012. He maintains that fossils of diatoms were found inside a sample of the meteorite he examined. He does not think Earthly contamination is involved, as the diatoms appear to be mineralized in the same manner as the meteorite itself. Interesting news, but far more than merely interesting, If this stands up under independent examination. Link:http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/01/14/claim-meteorite-discovered-with-signs-of-life-in-it/

If verified this should add weight to the panspermia theory. But if life didn't originate here on earth where did it come from?
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Bob DeWoody

Perhaps if they can definitely establish that these organisms are not from Earth, the next question they turn to will be: where did they come from, then? I believe the panspermia concept has life forming in space, and carried about by comets.

I think probably that life got it's start on some planet in our galaxy and upon that planet's destruction the seeds of life got distributed throughout space.
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Bob DeWoody

That would solve the problem some see, in the odds against life arising independently on various planets in the galaxy. There has not been a great deal of media coverage of this story. Below is a link to one article. Interesting that this was covered by a business oriented site, which are normally on the conservative side. http://bdlive.co.za/national/science/2013/01/16/meteorite-fossil-proof-we-are-not-alone

No particular species of diatoms were identified. It is not clear how we could know at this stage that they are from Earth. It may be possible for similar-appearing unicellular life forms to evolve elsewhere than on Earth.
Parallel evolution is already known to produce similar forms, even among very divergent forms of life. Consider the ichthyosaur, a reptile, sharks, which are fish, and dolphins, mammals. All assumed a notably similar form, independently. We also know from evolutionary history that the eye evolved independently, several times. The eye of the invertebrate octopus is structurally very similar to that of mammals.

Bilateral symmetry seems to be one of those features that occur again and again in very many, and very different forms of life. That it should occur in a conceivably extraterrestrial organism does not seem so improbable.
We know that on Earth, very simple organisms can evolve and adapt under a great variety of conditions. No doubt conditions on other planets will be different from those on Earth. Perhaps they will not be *so* different, though, that it will be impossible for simple organisms having many similarities to those on Earth to be produced.
It seems that many features of the diatoms in the Polonnarawa meteorite will have to be carefully examined before we can say with certainty whether this is an Earthly organism, or one that merely has some points of resemblance to same.

Take a look at the rock.

Looks like a hunk of basalt, not a meteorite. Before worrying about the diatoms, worry about if the rock came from space.

Take a look at the rock.

Looks like a hunk of basalt, not a meteorite. Before worrying about the diatoms, worry about if the rock came from space.

Bilateral symmetry seems to be one of those features that occur again and again in very many, and very different forms of life.

Yes nearly every high developed has a bilateral Symmetry - the Bilateria.
I just wanted to say that there are two crown-groups of Diatomeens- the Order Centrales engl. Centric(radial) and the Order Pennales engl. Pennate (bilateral)(old system).

.... examined before we can say with certainty whether this is an Earthly organism, or one that merely has some points of resemblance to same.

this discovery need to be checked, true.
But you have to be very careful and critical about this topic.

It states that among competing hypotheses, the one that makes the fewest assumptions should be selected. Occam's razor

They seem to have been able to determine if a specimen is a recently fallen one, in other instances of searching for meteorites, after a meteor has been seen falling. I would have thought that this determination would have been made in Sri Lanka, before the specimen was sent to the UK. If not, it could presumably still be done, the meteorite and the site of the fall are apparently less than three weeks old.

Wikipedia is typically quite conservative about controversial scientific claims, rejecting sensationalism. Their article on the Allan Hills meteorite reflects a high level of uncertainty about the presence or absence of fossils microbes therein. This question seems to be far from settled. The article does a good job of explaining why. Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Hills_84001