Two Naples scientists claim to have found extraterrestrial bacteria in ancient rocks and meteorites from one of the city's museums. Italy's national academy of sciences, the Accademia dei Lincei, agreed to publish the controversial result after a heated debate on 11 May.

Back to life: the reconstituted bacteria that are claimed to be ancient extraterrestrials. Credit: BRUNO D'ARGENIO/GIUSEPPE GERACI

Bruno D'Argenio, a geologist and academy member, and Giuseppe Geraci, a molecular biologist, told the academy's general meeting in Rome that they had brought back to life dried up bacteria, which they believe had been locked up in the rocks for millions of years.

The scientists say they did this by simply adding culture medium to samples of the rock and meteorite placed on glass slides. They argue that their techniques exclude the possibility of contamination, and claim that the results prove that life exists, and perhaps even evolved, in outer space.

But most biologists at the meeting were unconvinced that contamination could be ruled out. And they said they were concerned that the authors had bypassed peer review by presenting their findings directly to the academy.

The sceptics were also angry that the scientists had announced their results at a press conference two days before the academy meeting. D'Argenio and Geraci won widespread media coverage in Italy and abroad after they showed journalists a movie of the reconstituted bacteria swimming.

According to Mario Stefanini, a cell biologist at the University of Rome, academy rules allow members to present their data to the academy, and then to publish them as part of the academy's proceedings. The academy president, mathematician Edoardo Vesentini, ruled that in this case the paper should be accompanied by a transcript of the debate.

Russell Vreeland of West Chester University in Pennsylvania says experts in the field know how difficult it is to avoid contamination in such research, and that “this is why peer review is so important”.

Tom Shepherd of the British Geological Survey at the University of Leicester concurs, saying of the results: “The community is cautious, and quite rightly so.”

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