Some of you who have followed the ALH84001 debate are undoubtedly aware of the following, but for those who are not, I recommend Allan Treiman's webpage:

On the Question of the Mars Meteorite
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lpi/meteorites/mars_meteorite.html

which contains

Recent Scientific Papers on ALH 84001 Explained with Insightful and Totally Objective Commentaries
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lpi/meteorites/alhnpap.html

Admittedly, Treiman is a skeptic but his commentary on the many *peer-reviewed* papers surrounding the ALH84001 debate (at least through the end of 2000), including a few that dispute the low temperature origin of carbonates, is very informative.

FWIW, I agree with Nick Hoffman (as well as the vast majority of scientists in the community) that at least three of the four lines of evidence first offered by McKay et al. have been completely refuted or had enough doubt cast on them to make their "interpretation" useless, and that the final leg is being kicked out as we speak. Even assuming McKay et al. are actually correct, their evidence is not strong enough to survive scientific scrutiny and/or to satisfy Occam's Razor.

Alex R. Blackwell
University of Hawaii