Professor Milton Wainwright works at the University of Sheffield’s Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. Last week he attracted national and international media attention after writing in the Journal of Cosmology that he has recovered biological entities from between 22 and 27 kilometres above the earth that – he concludes – may originate from space.

And this week Professor Wainwright spoke with Sheffield Live’s Andy Cooper about his conclusions.

You can listen to Andy’s 49 minute interview with Professor Wainwright here:

Or you can listen to an abridged 11 minute version of the interview within the Communities Live programme from 26/09/2013, here.

Wainwright claims that it would be impossible for particles of the size he has recovered to ascend from Earth to this distance above the earth without an event such as a violent volcanic eruption, and that nothing like this occurred within three years of the sampling (done via a special balloon). He’s also emphatic that no cross-contamination occurred.

“Potentially a history making story,” says Andy. Listen to the complete interview, above.