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Mars & The Teachable Moment
Gallenod writes "In this article at space.com, Edna DeVore, Director of Education and Public Outreach for SETI, states that people are being continually exposed to pseudo-science from watching television and reading tabloids. Her examples include the "face" on Mars (which she discusses in detail in the article), alien autopsies, Area 51 in the Nevada desert as alien storage quarters, the "non-landings" on the Moon, UFO's, and alien kidnappings. DeVore describes the current Mars missions as a "teachable moment," an opportunity to teach factual science and astronomy in the context of sensationalistic psuedo-science and the legion of money-grubbing opportunists who make their living churning it out."
There's a great book by Carl Sagan that talks about his perspective on Pseudo-Science and how it's affecting Science, as well as the dangers. It's a wonderful read. The book is called The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in this topic.
Life today. Uncertainty tomorrow.
There aren't any canals. The "belief" that there were canals on Mars, carrying water was an artifact of the relatively poor resolving power of the telescopes of the day, and the human mind's desire to find patterns. It's virtually the same process behind the claims of the "Mars face".
Current science says that it would be extremely unlikely that you would find liquid water, on the surface of Mars given it's current conditions (temperature, pressure).
Evidence found by the Rovers indicates that at some point in Mars past, there was likely a standing body of water, probably a highly saline "ocean".
These statements are not contradicting each other.