Intraterrestrials: Mars Life May Hide Deep Below

astroengine writes "Almost every month we see news dispatches from the Mars where the nuclear-powered rover Curiosity finds water-bearing minerals in rocks and other circumstantial clues that the Red Planet could have once supported life. But in terms of finding direct evidence of past or present Martians, the rover barely scratches the surface, says geochemist Jan Amend of the University of Southern California. Using Earth life as an example, some species of microbes live miles below the surface, without sunlight or oxygen, metabolizing chemicals that are the result of radioactive decay. Most intriguing of all is the microbe Desulforudis Audaxviator that dwells nearly two miles down, a life form that would feel right at home inside Mars' crust. 'This organism has had to figure out everything on its own,' says Amend, 'it splits water into hydrogen and oxygen for metabolism.' Amend hopes to drop probes deep underground in some of the world's most inhospitable locations over the next few years, creating a possible analog for future Mars subsurface studies."

Comments

Re:Jesus Christ

[aristotle-dude]

what are you blathering about, the wars of choice waste so much money the space budget (and all other science combined) is of no consequence

we do have the cash to do science, and we'd have a lot more not spending hundreds of billions every decade to slaughter innocents

Spoken like someone who does not work hard and pay their taxes. It is indeed of consequence when that money could be put to better use and it is coming out of your paycheck. You present a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dilemma as if it was an all or nothing. Take each example of government waste one at a time or you will be overwhelmed by the task.

What is the "we" stuff. If you have too much cash then perhaps you should be donating some of it to the cause. Some people are more than ready to spend other peoples money but are unwilling to spend their own.

As for slaughter of innocents? How do you know who was innocent and who was not? Civilian casualties happens all the time including from suicide bombers employed by the other side. Do you not weep for them as well? Do you consider some lives to be more valuable than others?