Rain of red 'cells' in India

just an update on this, Caught most of Horizon on BBC2 tonight. This Red Rain featured quite heavily as evidence of panspermia, although they did mention that 2 labs had found proof positive of DNA in the cells.

From looking at Horizon, it still seems they still are not sure of what it is. But according to the seti podcast mentioned earlier, they say that this red rain has been cultivated and sequenced and is a terrestrial algae...anybody hear anything else on this. If this red rain was clearly identified as a terrestrial algae, then why did BBC Horizon, which you would think was a reputable source, even bother mentioning it.

Anybody know the real deal / latest on this stuff...

Good question, why bother if its algae, the fact that it contains DNA proves nothing in terms of panspermia, the question is the DNA recognisable as terrestial DNA, is there an answer to this ???

If we have encountered or ever do encounter alien life how would we know unless it jumps up and hits us? Just because RNA and DNA provide the basic code for life on Earth is no guarantee that the mechanism that governs the formation of life in another environment will be anything like that, or that it will be like anything that we are currently capable of recognising as such.