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Methane On Mars May Indicate Living Planet
Riding with Robots writes "NASA is announcing today that the definitive detection of methane in the Martian atmosphere means the planet is still alive, at least geologically, and perhaps even biologically. 'Methane is quickly destroyed in the Martian atmosphere in a variety of ways, so our discovery of substantial plumes of methane in the northern hemisphere of Mars indicates some ongoing process is releasing the gas,' said one agency scientist. The gas was detected with observations made over over several Martian years with NASA telescopes at Mauna Kea, Hawaii. Both biological and geological processes could explain the methane."
Proof right here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Fartpants
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
It's not worse than CO2, because it decays relatively quickly in the atmosphere. That's why this find is significant, it means the methane hasn't been in the atmosphere that long, which means there's still an active process on Mars that's putting it there.
http://www.mhall119.com
This was reported by Mars Express in 2004.
In particular, mercaptans, hydrogen sulfide, and other sulfur compounds are responsible for most the disagreeable oder of flatus.
You are confusing two different concepts. This should be an argument about the prevalence of abiogenesis (i.e. the creation of life from non-life), not the ability of life to adapt to harsh environments.
On the other hand, it could turn out that there is life on Mars that was carried there from Earth (e.g. via a chunk of rock that was ejected from Earth and landed on Mars). In that case, we're back to marveling at the resilience of our single tree of life.
The most rabid believers in American Exceptionalism are the exact same people whose policies are destroying it.
Our sun and solar system is a second generation system, made from the rubble of a previous star that went nova billions of years ago.
Jupiter, and Uranus have red spots that indicate Methane in their lower atmosphere. Some moons of Saturn have lakes and rivers of methane (Titan and Europa). That indicates that methane is older than the solar system and was created in the previous solar system that this one is made from.
Consequently, the presence of Methane doesn't say anything about the presence of life.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
Joe The Dragon was typing it from an iphone.
1. the subject was with tap-input, hence the misspellings
2. the body was with auto-spell check with the ' put there by his own accord.
I am an AI Robot Firefox Spelling Add On Extension with the Slashdot Anonymous Coward Web Service Inunciator.
Atmosphere well out of chemical equilibrium, lots of fossils in martian meteorites, dried husks of large martian life littering the landscape, funky soil types with concentrations of whatever elements martian organisms like.
Regarding coal:
So all the layers of ferns and trees that I find imprinted throughout a 30 foot thick seam of coking coal aren't evidence enough?
The process of forming coal is well known (Living biosphere -> swamps/peat bogs -> compression from overlying strata -> 5+ million years -> coal, generally)
Regarding oil: If oil *is* being made 'down there', it sure as hell ain't being made in the quantities we currently use daily.
You are in a twisty maze of processor lines, all alike.
There is a lot of hype here.
Stale, stale, stale. There is nothing new here. Except that the Princeps-Designate is opposed to human space exploration and NASA might be trying to drum up public interest.