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Sampling of the stratosphere at heights between 22 and 27 km was carried out in the UK on 31st July 2013 using balloon-borne equipment carrying aseptically clean electron microscope stubs onto which aerosols were directly captured. The experiment revealed the presence of a diatom frustule captured from a height of >25km. On account of the very short residence time of particles of diatom size and mass at these heights, we argue for its incidence from space, with a probable origin in the watery environment of a comet.

Campylobacterjejuni is an enteric pathogen recognized worldwide as a cause of diarrhea. Its isolation from stoQl samples requires a microaerophilic environment that heretofore has been expensive and cumbersome to create. An economical, portable, and simple method is described which involves the production of appropriate concentrations of oxygen and carbon dioxide. Inside a plastic bag are placed two cups, one containing fine steel wool (grade 0) previously soaked in a 2.5% aqueous solution of copper sulfate and the other containing an Alka-Seltzer tablet in tap water. As suggested by Jurgensen et al. (Rev. Bras. Pat. Clin. 18:58-63, 1982), we used the effervescent antacid to generate CO2. By plate counts, we found this method to be as reliable in the cultivation of 20 isolates of C. jejuni in pure and mixed fecal culture as the reference gas method (85% N2, 10% C02, and 5% 02). Analyses of the gas mixture inside the bag after up to 24 h of incubation confirmed the creation of an * Corresponding author.

No abstract

Details of stratosphere-isolated biomorphs are given, including a fragment of a diatom frustule and an inorganic particle-rich mass containing biological filaments. We argue that this mass which is around 300 micron in size is, like the other biological entities shown, too large to have been carried from Earth to the stratosphere. As a result, we conclude that the biological entities arrived from space, probably from comets, and their existence in the stratosphere provides prima facie evidence in support of the Hoyle-Wickramasinghe theory of cometary panspermia.