[fleitz]

Life is constantly surprising us, it's well known that there is bacteria on the outside of the ISS, it could well be that life is falling down rather than up.

I'd like to see a DNA sample that doesn't point to existing earth life, for me just seeing diatoms seems a little too early to reach this conclusion.

[mathattack]

I was thinking the same thing. Of course if life is falling down to earth, it may be hard to tell apart, but there should be some hints of life optimized for earth versus optimized for elsewhere.

I find the bacteria on the ISS fascinating. Can you point me to a good article?

[Someone]

I don't know specifically about the ISS, but I found http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade fascinating. Multicellular, and "can withstand temperatures from just above absolute zero to well above the boiling point of water, pressures about 6 times stronger than pressures found in the deepest ocean trenches, ionizing radiation at doses hundreds of times higher than would kill a person, and the vacuum of outer space. They can go without food or water for more than 10 years, drying out to the point where they are 3% or less water, only to rehydrate, forage, and reproduce."

It's "some of them will survive in outer space", though.

[fleitz]

http://rt.com/news/iss-bacteria-mir-mutation-765/

Also while looking for that I found this which shows bacteria grows larger in space.

http://www.space.com/21886-space-bacteria-grows-strange-ways...