Section A • Page 8
The University Daily Kansan
Tuesday, February 27, 2001
Nation/World
For comments, contact J. R. Mendoza at 864-4810 or e-mail editor@kansan.com
Meteor contains crystals like those formed by bacteria
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON A crystal found in a meteorite from Mars could only have been formed by a microbe and may be evidence of the oldest life form ever found, researchers say.
Scientists at the Johnson Space Center in Houston say that a crystalized magnetic mineral, called magnetite, found in a Martian meteorite is similar to crystals formed on Earth by bacteria.
"Iam convinced that this is supporting evidence for the presence of ancient life on Mars," said Kathie Thomas-Kepra, an astrobiologist at the space center and the first author of a study appearing today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Thomas-Keprta said there was no report of such magnetites being formed by any but biologic means.
The magnetite crystal was found in a Mars meteorite called Allen Hills 84001, or ALH84001.
Researchers at the Johnson Space Center in 1996 announced that the space rock contained microscopic evidence of life, but their claim had been dismissed by most other researchers.
The new finding is supported by a second paper in Proceedings.
E. imre Friedmann, a biologist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., said an electron microscope examination of ALHB4001 had produced evidence of magnetite crystals formed in chains.
Friedmann said that on Earth the bacteria that make magnetite form the material in chains and that these chains are surrounded by a membrane. Under the electron microscope, fossilized images of both the chains and the membrane can be seen, he said.
"We see chains that could have been formed only biologically," Friedmann said. "There is no way you could come up with a nonbiological explanation."
On Earth, some bacteria that live on the bottom of lakes produce magnetite as a navigation aide. The magnetic crystals act as a sort of compass to allow the bacteria to orient itself as it moves along the lake bottom.
require an environment that is low in oxygen. The built-in-compass "helps them navigate in the proper oxygen levels," he said.
Thomas-Keprta said the magnetite was "a bacteria fossil, sort of like dinosaur bones."
Friedmann said the bacteria
Because of this age, said Thomas-Keprta, "this is evidence of the oldest life form ever found."
She said magnetite could not come from Earth organisms because it was encased inside the meteorite in a carbonate mineral that has been age-dated at 3.9 billion years old.
Some researchers who rejected the 1996 study by the Johnson Space Center scientists said they are not convinced by the new evidence.
Ralph P. Harvey, a geologist who has studied ALH84001, said the new conclusions are "hasty" and should not be accepted without further study.
"I don't think this report should be considered as proof" that life ever existed on Mars, said Harvey, but he did not totally reject the Thomas-Kepra interpretation.
"The door is still open until further evidence is rolled out," said Harvey.
He said he was troubled that
Thomas-Keprta and her coauthors found many crystals of magnetite in the meteorite, but are reporting only on those crystals that they believe could have come from bacteria.
"All of the rest of the magnetites say 'No to life,' said Harvey. "They are focusing only a minority of magnetites in this rock."
Also, said Harvey, the researchers are concluding that the selected crystals could be formed only by a life process when there is little research to support this.
"Their support for these magnetite crystals is that they have never been found in a nonbiological setting," he said. "It is in my mind hasty to rule out another origin."
At 4.6 billion years, ALH84001 is the oldest of 16 meteorites found on Earth and identified chemically as originating from Mars. Scientists believe that an asteroid smashed into Mars 13 to 16 million years ago and catapulted the Martian chunk into orbit. It wandered in space for millions of years and finally fell to Earth about 13,000 years ago. It was found on the Allen Hills ice field in Antarctica in 1984 and has been intensely studied since.
Iraqis won't allow weapons inspectors
Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS — Iraq's foreign minister ruled out the return of U.N. weapons inspectors to the country even if sanctions were removed
This set a stark tone yesterday at the start of talks designed to help break a stalemate that has kept the inspectors out of Baghdad since 1998.
"There will be no return for any inspectors in Iraq — even if sanctions are totally lifted," Foreign Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf said as he entered U.N. headquarters.
Al-Sahafh suggested that Iraq could allow U.N. monitoring of its weapons facilities, which are less intrusive than inspections.
al-Sahhaf was going to the headquarters for an afternoon meeting with Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the first day of two-day talks between Iraq and the United Nations.
This would only be allowed, however, if the 10-year-old sanctions
"There will be no return for any inspectors in Iraa."
Mohammed al-Sahhaf
Iraq Foreign Minister
were immediately lifted and if Israel and other countries in the Middle East were similarly monitored for weapons of mass destruction.
If there is a need for U.N. monitoring in Iraq, he said, it should be to fulfill a U.N. resolution that says Iraq's disarmament would help make the entire Middle East free of the weapons.
"What is implemented in Iraq should be implemented in other states in the region," al-Sahhaf said. "That means in our view that this should be implemented on Israel and all other countries if they want monitoring in Iraq."
Al-Sahhaf said his delegation had given Annan detailed proof in
the opening session of talks yesterday that Iraq had no biological, chemical or nuclear weapons and no long-range missiles that could be used to deliver them. Therefore, he said, the sanctions should be lifted.
According to U.N. resolutions, sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait cannot be lifted until the Security Council is convinced Iraq has rid itself of its weapons of mass destruction.
U. N. weapons inspectors left Iraq on Dec. 16, 1998 — hours before the United States and Britain launched a four-day airstrike campaign to punish Baghdad for what they said was its failure to cooperate with U.N. arms searches.
Annan had expressed optimism that reviews of the sanctions by the United States and other countries marked an "important and healthy shift" that could help break the impasse over arms searches.
The Bush administration is reviewing its Iraq policy to make
sanctions more effective in light of waning support in the Middle East and elsewhere for the measures, which critics say have impoverished Iraq's 23 million people.
"For a long time the attitude had been 'This is our policy. This the way we do things.'" Annan said. "But I think recently we have put on the table that critical question of 'What should we be doing?'
"That in itself is an important and healthy shift. And I hope out of this review and search will emerge a constructive way forward."
U. S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has heard a chorus of criticism of the policy during a Middle East tour.
Powell will recommend to President George W. Bush an easing of curbs on some civilian exports, including water pumps and refrigerators, that Washington had previously balked at, a senior U.S. official said yesterday.
Powell has said the United States wants to make the sanctions more effective by focusing their more on the Iraqi leadership.
U.S. report condemns human rights record
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — One day before Colombian President Andres Pastrana is to meet with President George W. Bush, the State Department issued a report denouncing the Colombian government's human rights record.
Police and soldiers commit murders, high-ranking officers are rarely held accountable for offenses and security forces do little to stop right-wing paramilitaries, the department said in its annual report examining human rights worldwide.
"Members of the security forces collaborated with paramilitary groups that committed abuses, in some instances allowing such groups to pass through roadblocks, sharing information or providing them with supplies or ammunition," the report stated.
The report's release coincided with Pastrana's four-day visit to the United States.
The visit is providing the Colombian armed forces with combat helicopters and troop training under a $1.3 billion anti-drug aid package.
The package makes Colombia the third-largest recipient of U.S. military aid.
Assessed about the report order he met with Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., Pastrana stressed areas of progress noted in the report, such as efforts to improve the judicial system and professionalize the military.
"In global terms, I think it is a fair report of the realities we are living in in Colombia." he said.
Earlier, in a meeting with U.S. reporters before the report was released, Pastrana said his government had made progress in human rights but recognized more needed to be done.
"We are working very hard basically, and we are very committed right now in trying to achieve a way of really controlling what is happening inside our country regarding violations of human rights," he said.
The report echoes many of the criticisms made before by human rights groups, who say the number of massacres
1s rising.
But the source of the report — the U.S. government — and its timing are awkward for Pastrana. It diverts attention from issues he hoped to stress in his visit, such as renewing and expanding 10-year-old Andean trade preferences and securing U.S. involvement in the Colombian peace process.
Pastrana said he would like the United States to resume contacts with Colombia's largest leftist guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
The Colombian government is in slow-moving peace talks with the group.
The United States broke contact with the group after three Americans were kidnapped and killed by rebels in 1999.
Colombia's human rights record was a major concern last year when lawmakers approved the $1.3 billion aid package.
Before the money could be spent, Congress required the Clinton administration to certify that Colombia had met a series of human rights conditions.
The administration found that most conditions had not been met, but allowed the aid to go through, citing national security concerns.
In his meeting with reporters, Pastrana stressed his government's efforts to fight paramilitaries, who are blamed for the country's worst atrocities.
Pastrana said that a special brigade had been created to capture them, that the government is confiscating their assets and dismissing soldiers linked to them.
The State Department noted some improvements in Colombia's legal system, but said "the government's human rights record remains poor."
Paramilitaries and leftist guerrillas were blamed for most of the violence, with paramilitaries "responsible for an increasing number of massacres and other politically motivated killings."
Show the city that students care about the issues!
- More job opportunities postgraduation
- Increased student voice in Lawrence
- Improved public transportation
Brett Logan for City Commission
Political Advertisement
Paid for by Logan for City Commission, Treasurer: Curtis Wood
Political Advertisement
842. Nike(6453)
MERRELL.
840 Massachusetts
Grad Fest 2001 at Jayhawk Bookstore
Place Orders Now for the Best Selection
Custom Printed
Announcement Special
Choose from...
Traditional $1.39
Parchment $1.49
Deckel Edge $1.59
Must order a minimum
of 10 announcements
Caps, Gowns &Tassles Now in Stock