Slashdot Mirror
The Indirect Case For Life On Mars
Deinhard writes "Space.com is reporting that '[a] pair of NASA scientists told a group of space officials at a private meeting here Sunday that they have found strong evidence that life may exist today on Mars, hidden away in caves and sustained by pockets of water.' It is all based on methane signatures and not direct observation. Now plans for using the Genesis Device on Mars are out ... unless this is just a particle of preanimate matter caught in the matrix."
considering some of the extreme conditions organisms have been found to exist under on earth, Mars's landscape would be easy to survive in in comparision. One wonders how contaminated the Martian environment may have been from terrestrial probes sent there already.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
IIRC, Mars is geologically (or "areologically," if you prefer) dead -- obviously it had significant volcanic activity a long time ago, as evidenced by Olympus Mons, but none that we've ever detected going on now or in the recent past. So fluctuating methane levels, while they don't demand a biological explanation, certainly seem to point that way.
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
"Because know any sort of possibility of life on other planets is a hot button, we'll pull this theory out so that we can beg for funding."
It's all about getting more funding, and justifying what they have.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
All that said, the antarctic find is pretty cool :-)
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
Cor.
Don't assume for a moment that we won't colonize and terraform Mars. It may take 100 years and start with little research outposts like those on Antarctica, but soon enough it'll all be plowed up and paved over and we'll bring all the plagues of earth, litter included.
I suppose there will be an environmentalist coalition of some sort and some fine parks will be set aside, i.e. Olympus Mons, but when competing national iterests pit India and China against any other comers, it'll be a race to colonize it and damn the environment and anyone who pipes up to protect it.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
This would contaminate the planet with human life, and as a result, if we find life, it'll be difficult to determine if it was as a result of our visit or not.
it'll be difficult to determine if it was as a result of our visit or not.
Only if there is a common DNA signature for life on the two planets.
- - - - - - - - - - -
I am a programmer. I am paid to produce syntax not grammar. Deal with it.
Proof of life on Mars is becoming strikingly similar to commercial fusion or anti-balistic missile defences - always just another contract down the road. It's not that I have anything against the exploration of Mars, nor do I not appreciate the difficulty of understanding an alien environment, but every time NASA hypes to the public I feel like I'm watching/reading politics, not science.
Interesting thought. But it begs the question: unless our robotic explorers are completely sterile (and for the record, there are microbes that survive quite well in high radiation and low pressure environments), aren't we contaminating Mars' biosphere anyway?
In the long run no, I think it would be rather silly to allow a few bacteria to deny us an entire world.
In the short run absolutely yes. Investigating a possible completely alternate abiogenic event? From a scientific standpoint that would be *more* than worth holding off the colonization for a century or two. The value of that information for understanding the distribution of life in the universe is incalculable.
On the other hand if it's just Earth gunk transported to Mars, away with it.
Is it just that I'm a cynic? They haven't even found liquid water and now there's "strong evidence" of life on Mars? Come on, I would be happy at the news just as much as the next guy but let's not jump the gun here...believing something is true does not make it true, not here, nor on Mars.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
But her mummy is yelling "No"
And her daddy has told her to go
But her friend is nowhere to be seen
Now she walks through her sunken dream
To the seat with the clearest view
And she's hooked to the silver screen...
But the film is a saddening bore
For she's lived it ten times or more
She could spit in the eyes of fools
As they ask her to focus on -
Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man! Look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the Lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know...
He's in the best selling show -
Is there life on Mars?
It's on Amerikas tortured brow
That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow
Now the workers have struck for fame
'Cause Lennon's on sale again
See the mice in their million hordes -
From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads
Rule Britannia is out of bounds
To my mother, my dog, and clowns...
But the film is a saddening bore
'Cause I wrote it ten times or more
It's about to be writ again
As I ask you to focus on -
Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man! Look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the Lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know...
He's in the best selling show -
Is there life on Mars?
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
You want me to click on a .cx? Are you kidding?
but none that we've ever detected going on now or in the recent past.
You mean other than puffs of methane in the atmosphere?
Seriously. To claim trace amounts of methane in the atmosphere is a signature of life is a huge stretch. Methane is naturally all throughout the solar system. This could be nothing more than a subterranean fissure opening into a methane pocket in the crust of Mars and venting periodically.
Heck, the amounts they are talking about are so small, it could be the remnants from a comet impact ten thousand years ago.
You can tell a great deal about the character of a man by observing those who hate him.
I find it amazing how easily one ignores the problem of complexity. The gap between a simple organic molecule and an organism capable of reproduction is extraordinary. Evolution is all about accepting the transition between a theoretical possibility to practicality without doing the math.
Don't accept facts blindly just because they seem to be a reasonable explanation for reality. As many slashdotters say, correlation != causation. We now know enough about biochemistry and genetics to actually do the math. Try calculating the probabilities involved as an exercise and you'll realise that developing organisms by chance is essentially a miracle, even after considering the universe's size and age.
Ok show us the math bible thumper....
My understanding is that they concluded that the Viking results *could* be explained by soil chemistry instead of life. They thought the experiments were pretty good before launch, but the more they pondered the results, the more they realized that the tests were imperfect, and that sure-shot tests for life are difficult to design.
One interesting result was the "cicadic patterns" (spelling?) where the soil appeared to change its chemistry based on the time of day, even though it was kept at the same tempurature inside a dark chamber. Earth microbes often have internal clocks to adjust to the day-night cycle. It appears that Viking detected such behavior, but other factors have not been ruled out, such as faulty censors.
The Life Saga continues.
Table-ized A.I.
We lose one crew on a manned Mars mission and all the time/effort/money we spent up to that point will be wasted due to the public outcry at the loss of important people on TV. Never forget that Americans really are that shallow.