Biological Activity on Mars

visination.com writes "Recent ground based observations of Mars have confirmed the presence of water and methane. The 300 year life time of methane on Mars is short, giving scientists reason to beleive that Mars may be biologically active." From the article: "Every one of these longitudes shows a very substantial enhancement in the equatorial zone...So this is a very intense source of methane on Mars in this region. It also requires a very rapid decay of methane...more rapid than photochemistry would allow..."

Comments

Late-breaking news:

[TripMaster Monkey]

Today the Council of Elders confirmed the rumours that the sinister blue planet third from our star has managed to detect traces of life upon our world.

K'breel, speaker for the Council, stressed that there was no cause for alarm:

"While this is truly a troubling development, rest asured that the mighty Council has forseen this, and has taken the necessary steps to deal with the situation. The asteroid the Council has set in motion is on target to strike the invaders' planet in a few short years, and its payload of biological toxin, specially formulated to destroy their disgusting cellular structure, will insure our continued safety and serenity."

When challenged by pro-life activists present at the conference, who asserted that the invaders were living beings just as we are, and that we did not have the right to arbitrarily exterminate an entire species, K'Breel replied tersely:

"Wrong. Watch us."

Re:Late-breaking news:

[0x461FAB0BD7D2]

Disgusting cellular structure? 3G is not that bad, honestly.

Re:Late-breaking news:

[notmyeye]

"...will insure our continued safety and serenity."

I hope the deductible is reasonable.

Re:Late-breaking news:

[Vengeance_au]

However what K'breel fails to understand is:

Biological life on mars --> fossils --> oil

therefore, I give Dubbya 5 days to declare a war on Martian WMD's, terrorism, or being anti freedom. And hey, if the above news about the asteroid comes to light, he'll have a 50% strike rate on invading for legitimate reasons!

Re:Late-breaking news:

[kfg]

. . .he'll have a 50% strike rate on invading for legitimate reasons!

Nah! After Mars is reduced to a giant, radioactive Christmas tree ornament it will turn out that the above letter was a "misinterpretation" by the "intelligence" community.

It will come to light that the actual letter said:

"A disease has wiped out most of our male population. Mars needs geeks to insure the survival of our species, and our women are HOT! Them pulp novel covers? Phhhhhhhhbt! You ain't seen nothin' yet, Earth nerd. Because our need is so pressing and so great we have converted an asteroid into a transport ship and will be sending it right over. Fill it up with everyone who knows how to root, if you know what I mean."

Oops.

KFG

Re:Late-breaking news:

[01000011011101000111]

I would post a list of anti-democratic and self serving actions by the US over the last 100 yrs, but it'd be trolling and would also upset me (I do actually admire the ideals America was built on); anyone who wants to can google the facts for themself... I *wish* people would start admitting the faults in their own countries :'( I'm british, and i can admit we've done some really crappy stuff in the past (appeasment, Colonizing america/australia, colonialism, various european wars, selling arms to "Bad People" - just for starters) - i think this is reason for the general low opinion of the US globally - they just won't admit they make mistakes :(
Mod this however you want - flamebait even - I'm depressed at the death of idealism now... bloody secret polic^H^H^H^H^Hservices :(

Methane

[Hatta]

Great, we discover extraterrestrial life and it smells like farts.

Or...

[SecState]

From the article: "The methane could be the result of biological processes. It could also be an "abiotic" geochemical process, however, or the result of volcanic or hydrothermal activity on the red planet." Not to burst your methane bubble or anything.

Terraforming

[Colin Smith]

You know this eliminates the possibility of terraforming Mars, don't you. We'll have "Save the microbe" campaigns every time a mission is sent there.

Re:Terraforming

[MightyMartian]

Before we destroy them, ought we not study them. Important questions beckon if this does pan out. Off the top of my head:

1. Does this life chemically resemble life on Earth?

2. If it does, does it use RNA/DNA or something very close to these molecules?

3. If it does, then is Mars or Earth or possibly some other place in the solar system the point where the initial abiogenesis occured?

4. If Martian life does not appear to be closely related or at all related, then what possible abiogenesis pathways occured to produce Martian organisms?

There's a lot to be learned about both worlds from this, so I hope before someone decides to terraform they learn a considerable amount about any potential biotic activity on Mars.

Re:Terraforming

[SubtleNuance]

yes, because debating the intrinsic value of nature -- and life itself -- is something to be offhandedly dismissed.

right?

Just Curious

[BigDogCH]

Okay, firstly, I am not a follower of any major religion, and I have not read the bible, so that is the purpose of this question...

After reading that article, and then reading another article advertised on the same page here I was starting to feel as if i would be surprised if we DIDN'T find evidence of life on mars. Anyway, I was just wondering what remifications such a finding would have on the bible followers. Is there any reference in the bible as to whether life on other planets exists. Almost every scientific discovery is met with religous opposition, so I was wondering if anyone had any opinions from the religous area. Does the bible say anything about life on other planets?

Re:Just Curious

[TripMaster Monkey]

The Bible pertains to humans only...God neglected to mention his other projects to us.

Re:Just Curious

[TripMaster Monkey]

Actually, in all seriousness, here's a quote from the Bible:

"Now as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel upon the earth beside the living creatures one for each of the four of them. As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction, their appearance was like the gleaming of a chrysolite, and the four had the same likeness being as it were a wheel within a wheel. The four wheels had rims and they had spokes, and their rims were full of eyes round about. And when the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them and when the living creatures went, the wheels went with them, for the living creature was in the wheel".
- Ezekiel, chapter 1, Versus 15 thru 21.

Sound like a close encounter to you?

Re:Just Curious

[UnrefinedLayman]

The Bible, while not a scientific document (and it does not intend to be one) does hold some VERY accurate, simple scientific truths. While his contemporaries believed the world to be flat (along with science at the time), the prophet Isaiah spoke of "the circle of the earth". Another scripture speaks of the Earth hanging by nothing, which is accurate.

Don't confuse one correct statement out of thousands of proclamations with the scientific process.

Galileo learned what he did through study and could prove it. Isaiah speaking of the "circle of the earth" and scripture saying the earth hangs by nothing hold no more "simple scientific truth" than a missive from Nostradamus.

The ideas presented are not science. No matter how you look at it, we cannot assume that scientific process was used to come to those conclusions--they're statements without the all important thing called proof. Faith is not proof.

Besides, we all know it's turtles all the way down.

Re:Just Curious

[RichardX]

You're asking questions about accuracy of details in the Bible. A document which asserts the earth is flat, at the centre of the universe, and rests on pillars, that the mustard seed is the smallest seed, that hares and coneys chew the cud, that giants and unicorns are real, that bats are birds, that stars are small objects which can fall fromt the sky and be stamped upon, that.. well.. you get the idea. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

This has been found on other planets too

[The_Rippa]

Scientists recently found large amounts of methane gas around Uranus.

There is more than just Methane

[iamghetto]

Dr. Vittorio Formisano is/was the principle investigator of the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer used by European Space Agencies Mars Express probe.

From reading the spectrometer, he believed it was evident that methane, ammonia, and formaldehyde can all be found in the martain atmosphere. Where as methane will last a few hundred years in the atmosphere, formaldehyde will only -eight- hours.

I'm not a scientist, but from what I've read, all 3 gases are strong indicators of life. While I know that the methane could be produced by volcanic activity on Mars (as mentioned elsewhere in the thread), Mars is a geologically dead planet. There is no sign of any such activity.

The presence of all 3 gases on a geologically dead planet would seem to be consistent with planet having some microbial life. As Mars entered its Spring, the levels of all 3 gases were found to rise as well. Of course, more life, more gas in the atmosphere.

It was also noted that the gas levels rose sharply over Mars' frozen oceans as spring approached. Perhaps some simples forms of life were frozen in the oceans? It could also be that the frozen oceans sit over some geological vents, trapping some methane.

But again, as far as anyone knows Mars is still a geologically dead planet.

Sorry if this doesn't make much sense... but gas indicating life in the martian atmosphere is OLD news, and there are far more compelling gases (like formaldehyde) that exist in the atmosphere. If it only lasts for 8 hours, something there is reproducing it.

Apparently, the only way to know definitively what is producing it, is to go dig up the soil. So... good luck on that ever happening. Apparently we have to build a base on the moon first. :)