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We All May Have a Little Martian In Us
coondoggie writes "Men are supposed to be from Mars as John Gray's iconic relationship book would have you think, but new research presented this week suggests that in reality; we all may hail from the Red Planet. 'The evidence seems to be building that we are actually all Martians; that life started on Mars and came to Earth on a rock. It's lucky that we ended up here nevertheless, as certainly Earth has been the better of the two planets for sustaining life. If our hypothetical Martian ancestors had remained on Mars, there might not have been a story to tell,' Professor Steven Benner of The Westheimer Institute for Science and Technology said."
So it's a slow news day wherever this was written. It seems they pull this recycled article out of the garbage somewhere every couple months. Yes, we "might" be from Mars. That isn't news. I think I saw a special on it on TV in 1998.
I mean seriously. It's like all these scientists and writers have no imagination. Is't it within the realm of possibility that the red planet is very suited to the lifeforms that would have evolved there. All i ever read is how earthlike conditions are the only conditions that could possibly host any sort of evolved life.
Give me the silicon-based lifeforms that see 800 degrees C as a nice, balmy day.
Pretty speculative. Oxidized molybdenum is crucial for the formation of life? How could he possibly know that?
Gonna need proof there was life on Mars or that whatever life we have here somehow came from Mars.
Meantime here on Earth we have people who ignore dinosaur bones and fern imprints as proof there was life before 4004 BCE.
Laughter is the Spackle of the Soul.
I ain't descended from no martian!
Jeebus.
"Evidence is building" - if you accept his hypothesis that molybdenum played a role in our origins.
Another scientist flogging his pet theory, angling for his 15 minutes of fame.
get your ass to mars
get your ass to mars
get your ass to mars
The sun used to be significantly dimmer billions years ago, maybe putting Venus firmly within the Goldilocks zone of habitability.
Get your facts straight, us Orkans aren't from mars.
This is BS. We are all from Pluto. Sad, that they demoted Pluto from planet status.
So we don't have even a scrap of evidence that there was ever life on Mars, but evidence is "building" that we come from there. No, that's not science.
And how are organic molecules going to turn into tar in the presence of ample water and little heat (such as the case on the surface)? He seems to have neglected that high levels of liquid water (yet another oxide, but one which was prevalent in the early Earth environment) also inhibits the formation of tar.
The only argument against water as the tar-inhibitor agent is that it is "corrosive" to RNA. But which of these three compounds (including oxides of boron and molydenum) are currently found in living cells in quantity?
Now we are going to have a whole bunch of cults thinking the Garden of Eden is on Mars.
I didn't need that.
This falls squarely into the category of Hypothesis. Professor Benner hasn't even found a way to test it yet. Therefore it falls into the subheading of Interesting Speculation but nothing more.
Among the many, many things he would have to prove, and this is just for starters:
1). "Oxidized molybdenum could not have existed on Earth in early Earth history." While it's widely accepted that the early Earth had low oxygen levels, it does not follow that oxidized molybdenum could not have existed. There are a couple of ways I can think of without even trying.
2). "Oxidized molybdenum was essential to the formation of life." This is unproven.
3). "Tar is antithetical to life." Well, tar exists now and so does life. Some organisms even consume tar. At any rate it seems overstated and rash to claim that the formation of tarlike compounds would prohibit the formation of life.
4). "Mars was hospitable to the formation of life at that time while Earth was not." Really? How? They were far more alike than dissimilar. My argument is weak but so is Professor Benner's, and he's the one who has to prove his hypothesis.
5). "O2 was essential to the creation of oxidized molybdenum, essential to life." This becomes a paradox. There is widespread agreement that high levels of O2 is indicative of life, not a precondition for it. If that were true, and oxidized molybdenum were essential to life starting, then life could not start to produce the O2 necessary for it's creation.
6). "Transfer of life from Mars to Earth happened at the time observed in the archeological record." This will be a tough one to nail down. It's plausible but that's all.
7). "Reverse seeding of life, from Earth to Mars, did not happen." This may be easier to support. Earth's gravity well is greater than Mars. However ruling it out will be extremely difficult.
8). "The archeological record shows common morphology, and ideally common biology (including genetics) between Earth and Mars." This will have to wait on archeological data from Mars.
I understand that my paraphrases of Professor Benner's position may not correctly reflect his true beliefs. If so, I await correction and will withdraw them as appropriate.
Or known is the USA as "Five Million Years to Earth", had this plot although a little more "out there" -- but it essentially claimed that we were all descended from Martians. They came here in a spaceship and integrated their DNA into the indigenous life-forms and presto, that's where we came from.
BTW: If you've never seen this film, it scared the crap out of me as a kid. I didn't sleep for a week. It still sends chills down my spine.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
we also might be from Uranus, I'm sick of this zombie story.
Our ancestors messed up Mars and after evolving to be able to do it again - there you go... Next planet goes bust and already looking to move on.
pretty far out there.
Saying that evidence shows we came from Mars is like saying cows originated from the grocery store. Sure, they (or some proteins from them) may have gotten there at some point, but that doesn't make it their origin.
Seriously, posting the "we might be martians" story has become equivalent to trolling Slashdot. I would carry on about why the notion of Earth life coming from Mars is flimsy and fanciful to begin with, but we have had that discussion over and over. It's like Groundhog's Day - only not entertaining.
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Molybdenum doesn't require free molecular oxygen to oxidize. It can steal the oxygen from other sources.
By the way, when did molybdenum become crucial for life? Did the earliest life require it? I would like to see some proof here.
So, was the molybdenum oxidized BEFORE it streaked through the oxygen-rich atmosphere?
His pet theory is just that...a theory.
If you find this even vaguely scientifically credible here are some questions to think about:
It's certainly possible but conjecture this wild without the evidence to back it up is just hard science fiction not science.
It's conjecture, no more, and weak at that.
Tar Paradox:
"All living things are made of organic matter, but if you add energy such as heat or light to organic molecules and leave them to themselves, they don't create life. Instead, they turn into something more like tar, oil or asphalt."
I guess they have never been to a greenhouse? Organic molecules, heat, light....hmmm. Plants love that.
So let me get this straight ... we have absolutely no proof that there was EVER life on Mars ... but we have enough of something to postulate that life began on Mars and was carried here by a meteorite?
Slashdot's editors wouldn't know science from fantasy if it smacked them in the face. This is utterly ridiculous crap. An 8 year old kids fantasies have more basis in reality than this sort of ignorance.
Shark, slashdot has jumped you.
Life may have originated on mars ... but as far as we know right this instant it could have just as easily evolved on Earth, or titan, or Europa or in the core of the Sun. We have no fucking clue why there is life here and these sort of fantasies are just obnoxious click-bait for morons thanks to the inept editing skills of slashdots 'editors'
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
The Martian soil is full of really nasty chlorine compounds that would make it hard for living things to grow in it. Are they saying those compounds weren't there back then?
Still plenty of evidence that the early conditions on Earth were sufficient for life to form by itself.
We All May Have a Little Martian In Us
And if you don't but would like to imagine you do, just google for "Marvin the Martian Rule 34".
Someone had to say it
Besides being right, their stories have actual themes and moral imperitives. Now, if this guy said "life began in uranus" it would give those gay fellows some support too.
POPPYCOCK!!
I always wanted to say that, so thanks for a post that made that possible.
-- L8R, guitardood
The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one...
If you can't prove it's wrong then it has to be true. CHECK-MATE CREATIONISTS!
So... on which planet was the flood mentioned in the bible actually?
NOT NEW. At the most a bit of supporting evidence for an older hypothesis. Still interesting, though.
The atomic number of Molybdenum is 42!
Why the hell are there so many arguments about life coming from outside heart? I heard scientits saying it came from comets from outer space, from Mars, etc. Why would life be able to originate everywhere in the universe but not here?
"Cyborgs are supposed to be from Earth" as Cerebroid113's iconic cybernetics essay would have you think, but new research presented this week suggests that in reality; we all may hail from the Blue Planet. "The evidence seems to be building that we are actually all Earthlings; that mechanical life started on Earth and came to Mars to escape the insane organics thereupon. It's lucky that we ended up here nevertheless, as certainly Mars has been the better of the two planets for sustaining mechanoelectric life. If our hypothetical Earthling ancestors had remained on Earth, the murderous monkeys there likely would have eliminated the possibility of this and all stories," submits Pontificator Program42 of The Westcrater Implementation for Knowledge Optimization and Compression.
I didn't know I had a little me that is martians. Religion where calling it angels others demons but at the end nobody has ever attempt to say that we are all coming from the red planet.
Dude: "Hey baby, do you have a little Martian in you".
Girl: "No".
Dude: "Want one?"
We must find the Soul Cube and give it to our greatest hero!
If these martian organisms can survive the journey why are they still not covering Mars? The surface of Mars is far, far more hospitable to life than the cold, hard, irradiated vacuum of space. Indeed space probes going to Mars have to be disinfected because there are terran micro-organisms that would thrive there.
For your story to be correct you have to explain what sterilized the surface of Mars and removed all signs of life from it (or at least hid it well). It seems far, far more probable to me that live evolved here on Earth by a mechanism that we still imperfectly understand.
Get the Nikes, Honey.
hahaha
... Ray Walston didn't live to see the headline for this piece.
I don't always read astronomy news, but when I do, I read it on NetworkWorld.
Software sucks. Open Source sucks less.
Thanks for nothing Captain Buzz Kill.
Guess it's back to looking like I'm working.
No brain, no pain.
Why is this article front page???
Life is probably closer to 14 Billion years old than just 4 or 5Million years old. It just takes a while to get to some backwater burg like Earth. Yeah, it's just a theory, and just about as provable right now.
Mr de Palma, are you listening?
Some space truck driver who ate at a questionable space diner found a sudden biological emergency and pulled over to land on primitive earth and take a dump. And that's how microorganisms originated on earth.
Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.