For many years, many scientists have believed that the seeds of life could have come to Earth in meteors. This theory is called panspermia, and answers a lot of questions about our origins.
Unfortunately, the same scientists believe that alien bacteria and viruses may still be falling on us. These microscopic invaders have been blamed for all kinds of diseases, from the everyday to the completely strange.
1.- Mad Cow Disease
Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is a devastating disease that occasionally appears to paralyze the beef industry. Worse still, it can be passed on to humans when that infected meat is eaten, which leads to dementia and even death. The microorganisms called prions are responsible for the infection, and some believe that their strangeness is not just coincidence.
Researchers in India recently announced that microbes that attack the brain may have come from a comet that went over. It has been discovered that frozen space dust balls contain chemical structures very similar to prions and other microorganisms.
Frozen aliens may have been ejected into the dust trail of a comet and left to be trapped by Earth's gravity. These scientists have since sent balloons to the upper atmosphere to look for the germs that kill the cows.
2.- Spanish Flu
In 1918, the world was in the hands of one of the deadliest epidemics of all time. The so-called Spanish flu, was a disease that infected a third of the Earth's population and claimed about 20 million lives. It was an exceptionally lethal strain of a common virus, and English astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle had a theory of why.
He thought of comets, which deposited alien viruses frozen in the atmosphere. They were then cast to the surface of the Earth by the energy generated by the activity of the sunspots.
This 11-year cycle was shared by all the world outbreaks of influenza for over 250 years, meaning that the Spanish flu disaster may have been the first large-scale attack of the alien invasion on Earth.
3.- The common cold
The cold that we usually suffer several times a year is not only annoying, it is astronomically annoying. At least according to the book of 1979: Diseases of Space.
Years before Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe formed his theory on HIV, he and astrobiologist Sir Fred Hoyle were busy writing this comprehensive defense of panspermia. He suggests that most of the space dust consists of microscopic creatures, even going so far as to claim that the common cold is actually an alien invader.
He simply drifted into the atmosphere and waited for the rain or snow to pick him up and take him waiting for victims. Although hard to believe, the research and the book are surprisingly solid.
4.- Ebola
Ebola is one of the most horrible diseases imaginable. Causing heavy bleeding and an agonizing end, is really a fate worse than death. So, of course, the infamous outbreak of 2014 had everyone united in terror, but some with more reasons than others.
Shley Dale of the University of Bristol in England had a theory. Millions of years ago, he thought the Ebola virus might have landed on Earth by a meteorite collision. Believing that microscopic life forms had survived the vacuum of space. He believes the extraterrestrial rocks would have made the perfect vehicle.
The bizarrely deadly virus would have adapted to the conditions of our planet before finding the perfect hosts: us. The evidence is unstable, but it does make a tempting explanation of a disease that seems too terrible to come from the old and dull Earth
5.- Pandoravirus
If the frightening name of this newly discovered virus is not enough to worry you, maybe if it is the fact that it is 10 times bigger than any ordinary virus. Discovered by French scientists in 2013, this uniquely unique microorganism is only found in two places on Earth: off the coast of Chile and in a single Australian pond. It shares only 6 percent of its genetic makeup with the rest of life on Earth.
This has led many to the conclusion that it is not really native to Earth. It may sound silly, but researchers are seriously investigating the possibility that the Pandoravirus is of alien origin. But do not worry. Even if this virus ends up being from Mars, it's only really harmful if you're an amoeba.