1121st General Monthly Meeting
Nanobacteria - did they exist on Mars and is there evidence of them in Australia's Triassic and Jurassic sandstones?
Dr Philippa Uwins, Senior Research Fellow, University of Qld
Date: Wednesday, 5th November, 2003
Time: 7:00 pm
Venue: Search & Discover Room, Australian Museum,
Collins St., Sydney (William St. entrance)
On August 7th 1996, NASA made the historic announcement that a Martian Meteorite (ALH84001) could contain evidence for past life on Mars. Central to the thesis, and perhaps the most controversial aspect of the findings, were the fossil remnants of sub-bacteria sized "cells" called nanobacteria (or nannobacteria). While the results were of great scientific interest they fuelled an intense debate, not only concerning the existence of Martian microbes, but also concerning the size limits of very small micro-organisms. The identification and existence of nanobacteria was not new and had been proposed previously by a number of workers. However, the likelihood of such small cells existing was strongly questioned, since it was argued that these cells would have been far too small to carry out the metabolic and reproductive processes essential for life. It has remained unresolved to this day whether these mineralised nanobacteria were fossilised remnants of independent life-forms, artefacts of sample preparation or unusual mineral deposits. More recently, we reported on the existence of novel nano-organisms (nanobes) growing on Triassic and Jurassic sandstones collected from petroleum exploration boreholes offshore Western Australia. Nanobes will be described and illustrated within the context of the nanobacterial debate.
Enquiries: Prof. P.A. Williams
email: P.Williams@uws.edu.au
or phone the Society - details on Introduction page.
Dr Philippa Uwins is a director of Whistler Research Pty Ltd and a Senior Research Fellow at The University of Queensland, Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis. She has an honours degree in Geology from the University of Edinburgh (1982), and a PhD in Geology/Palynology (the study of organic microfossils) from the University of Aberdeen (1987).
Report on the General Monthly Meeting
Dr Uwins gave a fascinating talk outlining details of recent research work accompanied by excellent electron microscope photographs to support the evidence of the existence of nano-organisms (nanobes) which were described and illustrated within the context of the nanobacterial debate. A lively question time ensued.
A vote of thanks was moved by Dr W A (Bill) Sewell and carried by enthusiastic acclamation by the audience.