[mturmon]

For reference, here is the front page of the Journal of Cosmology:

http://journalofcosmology.com

The paper contains almost no detail about the methods used, and lacks involvement of a diverse group of authors. This indicates that the authors are not thinking hard enough about alternative theories to explain what they have found.

For instance, the paper contains this sentence:

"It is also unlikely that the fragment could have come from commercial aircraft, which fly below well below our stratospheric sampling height."

And goes no further. Completely unacceptable.

[astrodust]

Unless they have a completely sterile, sealed container that is open only at certain altitudes to collect material in a filter, they will have nothing to stand on.

NASA had a satellite that was sent up to collect samples of debris along a particular orbital belt and worked like this. They were doing tests to see how much space junk had accumulated and would open one of the compartments for a fixed period of time, then re-seal it before switching to another.

[anigbrowl]

Unless they have a completely sterile, sealed container that is open only at certain altitudes to collect material in a filter, they will have nothing to stand on.

That is exactly their claim (with detailed method), and they did a control as well, in which the container was not opened, to validate their anti-contamination protocols. I'm all for critiques of the paper, but I do think you might have gone to the bother of looking at it first.