When the Viking Missions Discovered Life on the Red

Planet G. Bianciardi (1), J.D. Miller (2) , P.A.

Straat (3) , G.V. Levin (4)

(1) Giorgio Bianciardi Ph.D., Dipartimento di Patologia Umana e Oncologia, University of Siena, Italy, Via delle Scotte 6, 53100 Siena, Italy (gbianciardi@unisi.it)(2) Joseph D. Miller Ph.D., Department of Cell and Neurobiology, Keck School of Medicine at USC, 1333 San Pablo St./BMT401, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA(3) Patricia Ann Straat Ph.D., Retired (NIH), 830 Windy Knoll, Sykesville, Maryland 21784 (4) Gilbert V. Levin Ph.D., Beyond Center, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287

BACKGROUNDThe two Viking landers dropped on Mars about 4,000 miles apart, in 1976. They scooped up soil samples and applied a radiolabeled nutrient cocktail to the soil (Labeled Release, LR, Experiment, G.V. Levin Principal Investigator)

BACKGROUND

If microbes were present in the soil, they would likely metabolize the nutrient resulting in the release of CO2 or possibly methane (CH4).

In effect, the active experiments did indicate the release of a carbon-containing gas.

Life on Mars !

..and control experiments on sterilized soil samples produced little or no gas release.

Life on Mars !

But

the Viking GCMS (gas chromatograph–mass spectrometer) experiment, that carried out a search for organic compounds, did not find any organic molecules in the soil

No organic compunds? No life!

Most scientists suggested that the release was the result of chemical reactions with highly reactive compounds such as superoxides and peroxides.The NASA scientists let the matter drop.

No organic compunds? No life!

Chemistry NOT Biology!

The Viking GCMS was not able to detect the pyrolysis products of <106 Escherichia coli bacteria/g. (while the LR experiment was able to detect 10bacteria/g)

Detecting pyrolysis products from bacteria on Mars Daniel P. Glavin, Michael Schubert, Oliver Botta, Gerhard Kminek, Jeffrey L. Bada

Earth and Planetary Science LettersVolume 185, Issues 1–2, 15 February 2001, 1–5

Glavin D.P. et al., 2001

But, in 2001..

Lacking the smoking gun

moreover, in 2001..Miller, J.D., 2001

The Viking Lander LR experiments showed highly periodic gas release. The signal itself had a circadian period of 24.66 hours, the length of a Martian day.

Circadian rhythm = Biology?

Lacking the smoking gun

Miller, J.D., 2001/ QUESTION #1 for us:

But the fluctuations in gas emissions seemed to be entrained to a 2°C fluctuation inside the Viking Lander (fluctuation in temperature that occurs daily on the surface of Mars, can be as much as 100°C).If the circadian rhythm was simply driven by temperature it was probably Chemistry. Driven ornot driven? Chemistry or Biology?

The Phoenix lander descended on Mars on May 25, 2008 Perchlorate on

Mars

Phoenix, 2008descovering

2010

Perchlorate can destroy organics when heated (as in GCMS) and produce chloromethane and dichloromethane, the identical chlorine compounds discovered by GCMS on Mars

Atacama desert (it contains organic Compounds and perchlorate!) GCMS = NO org. comp. if perchlorates are present.

LR Experiment: a new approach. Complexity analysis: order and chaos

Destructured randomness: White noise

Order: a sine function

LIFE: Heartbeat: chaos, randomness and fractal (statistical) order

Complexity analysis:LR data, Mars vs. Biological data sets, Earth: the same behaviour? (Question # 2)

LIFE: Heartbeat: chaos, randomness and fractal (statistical) order

Reanalysis of Viking LR experiments starts . Bianciardi with Miller, Straat

& Levin: #9 experiments on Mars (active, sterilized, starved, protected.) 16 000 data points, and several biological controls, (bacteria on soil samples, temperature of rats) 2004-2011. Using 7 nonlinear indices, Chaos Data Analyzer sw.

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HTCDVL2c3 LYAP

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Relative Lempel-Ziv complexity, LZRelative Lempel-Ziv complexity, LZ

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Relative LZ complexity is a measure of the algorithmic complexity of a time series (Lempel and Ziv 1976). According to the Kaspar and Schuster algorithm, each data point is converted to a single binary digit according whether the value is less than, or greater than, the median value of a set of data point

Hurst exponent, HHurst exponent, HVL2c3 CD

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The Hurst exponent is the slope of the root-mean-square

The Hurst exponent is the slope of the root-mean-squaredisplacement of each data point versus time.

The amount of “memory” in a time series

.

Largest Lyapunov exponent, Largest Lyapunov exponent, VL2c3 CD

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Lyapunov exponents measure the rate at which nearby trajectories in phase space diverge.

Entropy, K (Kolmogorov):Entropy, K (Kolmogorov):

The entropy index chosen here (Grassberger and Procaccia 1983b), is a measure of the disorder in a data set, and was calculated as the sum of the positive Lyapunov exponents.

Brock-Dechert-Scheinkman statistic detects serial dependence in time series and can thereby quantitate the deviation of the data from pure randomness

A measure of how dependent data points are on their temporal neighbours. It is taken as the time at which the correlation function first falls to 1/e

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BDS (Brock-Dechert-Scheinkman) statisticBDS (Brock-Dechert-Scheinkman) statistic

Correlation time, τ:Correlation time, τ:

K-means cluster analysis automatically sorted the active Viking LR experiments data (Mars), averaged across all sols, with known biological measures (soil sample with known microbial content, terrestrial rat core temperature data series), p<0.001.

Int. J. of Aeronautical & Space Sci. 13(1), 14–26 (2012)Complexity Analysis of the Viking Labeled Release ExperimentsGiorgio Bianciardi, Joseph D. Miller, Patricia Ann Straat, Gilbert V. Levin

16,000 data points. All sols on Mars. The results published some months ago.

The set of complexity measures unambiguously distinguish the active LR experiments on Mars from various abiotic controls (p<0.001)

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Int. J. of Aeronautical & Space Sci. 13(1), 14–26 (2012)Complexity Analysis of the Viking Labeled Release ExperimentsGiorgio Bianciardi, Joseph D. Miller, Patricia Ann Straat, Gilbert V. Levin

A perfect test to distinguish biology from abiotic processes?

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Int. J. of Aeronautical & Space Sci. 13(1), 14–26 (2012)Complexity Analysis of the Viking Labeled Release ExperimentsGiorgio Bianciardi, Joseph D. Miller, Patricia Ann Straat, Gilbert V. Levin

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Materials and Methods

Here we consider :

4 LR experiments performed by the Vikings on Mars adding a solution of formate, glycine, glicolate, D- L- Lactate, D- L- Alanine labeled with 14C.

And 1 LR experiment performed on Earth, terrestrial soil with a known microbial population, using the same LR nutrient The amount of radiolabeled gas released during the first 6 sols (Mars) or 6 days (Earth), read every 16 minutes, was analyzed by Chaos Data Analyzer Pro, ( Sprott & Rowlands, American Istitute of Physics) to determine :- L-Z , Hurst, Lyapunov, Entropy, BDS, indices.

First six sols on Mars.

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A two-tailed independent t test showing how temperature and radio-labeled gas differ (p<0.001), while the complexity indices of radiolabeled gas on Earth (bacteria) and Mars were superimposable.The temperature didn’t drive the CO2 fluctuations (do you remember? Question #1)Bacteria (Earth) and data from Mars: the SAME indices (Question #2)

Walking through the complexity variables

1)Temperature and CO2 fluctuations

2) LR active test (Vl2C1)Mars Vs. Earth (bacteria)

First six sols on Mars.

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Complexity of radiolabeled gas on Earth or Mars after sterilization showed changes of nonlinear indices SUPERIMPOSABLE (Question #2)

Walking through the complexity variables

Sterilization,Mars vs. Earth

First six sols on Mars.

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Complexity of radiolabeled gas on Earth (bacteria) or Mars (4 active tests) are seen to be superimposable. The SAME statistical universe.

Walking through the complexity variables

4 active LR tests, Mars Vs. Earth (Bacteria)

CONCLUSIONS

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Question #1.The temperature DIDN’T DRIVE the CO2 fluctuations. The circadian rhythm evidenced by Miller et al (2001) indicated the presence of LIFE

Question #2. All the complexity indices were SUPERPOSABLE on Mars and on Earth (soil sample with bacteria). The CO2 release on Mars after adding nutrients was a sign of LIFE.

..or do you prefer to think that on Mars there is some fantastic chemistry that mimics perfectly a bacterial metabolism?

Sample Analysis At Mars (SAM)SAM (for Sample Analysis at Mars

SAM (Sample Analysis at Mars): to search organic compounds

We are now waiting to see if Curiosity finds organic compounds..