Xref: utzoo sci.bio:1324 sci.astro:2371 sci.philosophy.tech:669 Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!cfa!cfa250!willner From: willner@cfa250.harvard.edu (Steve Willner P-316 x57123) Newsgroups: sci.bio,sci.astro,sci.philosophy.tech Subject: Re: DNA for interstellar messages Message-ID: <940@cfa183.cfa250.harvard.edu> Date: 7 Jul 88 14:49:21 GMT References: <2244@ur-tut.UUCP> Organization: Harvard/Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Lines: 29 From article <2244@ur-tut.UUCP>, by powi@ur-tut (Peter Owings): > I was fortunate enough to have several conversations with Sir Fred > Hoyle when he visited the University of Rochester. If there is > anyone who has written about stuff like "Bacteria From Space", Sir > Fred has. You might try looking at a book called > _Grains_to_Bacteria_. The only problem with this book is that it > is very technical, going into spectral observations of interstellar > particles. Sorry, but I doubt that's the only problem. (Some might say it's not a problem at all.) Though I haven't read this particular book, I am familiar with the Hoyle and Wickramasinghe papers published in journals. Although the observed interstellar spectra and the polysacccharide or "bacteria" spectra look superficially very similar, a closer look reveals that the disagreement is in the _wavelength_ axis. That is, the interstellar spectral features just do not have the wavelengths predicted by the Hoyle/Wickramasinghe model. While I would not consider a disagreement in the strengths of the various features a serious problem, the wavelengths are a different matter. Wavelengths ought to depend mainly on the kind of material producing the features, and a discrepancy in wavelength strongly suggests that the identification is wrong. Moreover, there are far more plausible identifications for most of the observed spectral features. -- Steve Willner Phone 617-495-7123 Bitnet: willner@cfa 60 Garden St. FTS: 830-7123 UUCP: willner@cfa Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Internet: willner@cfa.harvard.edu