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SCIENTISTS STRENGTHEN PROSPECTS FOR LIFE
ON MARS -New Information Supports Claim Viking Discovered
Life in 1976
Media Contact: Mark Hopkinson 561-750-9800
x15
Email: mhopkinson@TransMediagroup.com
Science Contact: Gilbert V. Levin, Ph.D.: 619-234-1500 (8/1-8/3),
301-419-3900 (after 8/4)
Email: gillevin@biospherics.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
SAN DIEGO, CA., August 1, 2000. -- On the heels of
NASA's decision to land new rovers on Mars, the debate over
the existence of life on the red planet is heating up. Dr.
Gilbert V. Levin, a chief proponent, today advanced his claim
to finding living microorganisms on the elusive planet 25
years ago. Dr. Levin, one of a trio of scientists, including
himself and another who participated in NASA's Viking Mission,
was presenting a paper at the Annual Meeting of the International
Society for Optical Engineering refuting the mainstay arguments
against life on Mars. He contends that those arguments-the
presumed absence of organic matter and of liquid water-are
no longer tenable.
Levin, senior author of the paper and President of Biospherics
Incorporated (NASDAQ/BINC), Beltsville, Maryland, was Experimenter
on the Viking Labeled Release (LR) life detection instrument
that landed on Mars in 1976. His tests produced evidence for
life that sparked a continuing controversy. The consensus
of interested scientists has been that the Viking LR results
on Mars, though positive, were chemical in origin and not
biological. However, in a 1997 publication, following two
decades of study, Levin finally concluded that Viking had,
indeed, detected living microorganisms on Mars. Acknowledging
that many scientists may remain unconvinced, he now proposes
a new test to settle the issue once and for all, and urges
that it be sent on the next lander mission to Mars.
Co-author Dr. Arthur Lafleur, Assistant Director of
MIT's Environmental Health Science Center, provided information
that refutes the most often cited argument against the LR
life detection experiment - the lack of organic matter, the
stuff of life, on Mars, as reported by the Viking organic
analysis gas chromatograph mass-spectrometer (GCMS). Lafleur,
who helped develop the Viking GCMS instrument, and a co-author
of the original report of no organic matter on Mars, revealed
unpublished results of pre-mission tests. They showed that
the instrument sent to Mars could easily have missed biologically
significant amounts of organic matter in the soil, as it had
in a number of tests on Earth. Thus, the Mars GCMS results
no longer can be considered proof that the LR failed to detect
living microorganisms.
Co-author Dr. Lawrence Kuznetz, University of California,
Berkeley, Department of Planetary Sciences, has put to rest
the second prevailing argument against the possibility of
life on Mars, that the atmosphere of the planet is too thin
to support the existence of life-essential liquid water. Results
of a laboratory study by a team of researchers led by Kuznetz
showed that liquid water does exist under Martian environmental
conditions. In addition, Kuznetz found results from 1960's
tests of cooling systems of astronaut space suits showed that
water exists in liquid form under atmospheric pressure as
low as that on Mars. The findings lend credence to a model
for Martian water published in 1998 by Levin and his son,
Ron, a Ph.D. physicist at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. Based on
Viking and Pathfinder data, the model predicted amounts of
moisture in the Martian soil equal to that found to nourish
microbial life in the sand dunes of Death Valley, California.
Corroborated by the new NASA announcement of evidence for
recent or current liquid water on Mars, these reports dispel
the no-liquid-water issue against the Viking LR results.
The authors support Levin's "chiral LR" experiment and propose
that it be sent to Mars at the next opportunity. The experiment
would apply the proven LR technology to test Martian soil
for a unique characteristic found in all known forms of life,
but not in chemical reactions. This characteristic is the
biological preference for one of two possible configurations
of certain organic molecules. The scientists state that the
experiment can return an unambiguous answer to the major scientific
question of life on Mars that would be acceptable to virtually
all scientists.
Dr. Levin was an Experimenter on NASA's Viking Mission to
Mars, a Co-Investigator on NASA's Mariner 9 Mars mission,
and was a Team Member of NASA's MOx instrument placed on the
ill-fated Russian 1996 Mars Lander. He received NASA's Public
Service Award "In recognition of his achievements in designing,
perfecting, and conducting the Viking Labeled Release Experiment."
Since his Viking experience, Levin has led the biotechnology
efforts at Biospherics, the publicly held Maryland Company
he founded in 1967. His developments include a full-bulk,
low-calorie sweetener, tagatose, soon to come on the market,
and the safe-for-humans, environmentally friendly pesticide,
FlyCrackerTM, introduced into the market this year. The Company
also provides information services to government agencies
and private industry.
Certain statements contained herein are "forward looking"
statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. Because such statements include risks
and uncertainties, actual results may differ from those expressed
or implied. Factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those expressed or implied include, but are
not limited to, those discussed in filings by the Company
with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the
filing on Form 8-K made on March 3, 1999.
Under its motto, "Technologies for Information and Health,"
Biospherics' mission is to provide guidance and products to
improve the quality of life. Biospherics offers biotechnology
innovations, information technology solutions, and information
center services.
See BACKGROUND - SCIENTISTS STRENGTHEN PROSPECTS FOR LIFE
ON MARS, located at Biospherics' Internet site - http://www.biospherics.com.
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