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Scientists Have Spotted the Signs of Flowing Water On Mars
New submitter universe520 writes: Using neat imaging technology that allows them to determine the chemical compound of a substance by looking at the light reflected from it, scientists have spotted the traces of flowing water on Mars. By looking at the dark streaks on some photos of Mars, Lujendra Ojha from Georgia Tech has found compounds that are made in liquid water—meaning that water may be trickling down those streaks when the climate is just right.
From the linked Economist piece: Details remain to be worked out, including where the water in question originates. Possibly, it derives from subsurface ice. Or it might condense out of Mars’s thin, dry atmosphere. Wherever it does come from, though, the amounts in question are modest in the extreme. But even modest amounts of water are intriguing to biologists. If Martians evolved during their planet’s earlier, wetter phase, the continued presence of water means it is just about possible that a few especially hardy types have survived until the present day—clinging on in dwindling pockets of dampness in the way that some “extremophile” bacteria on Earth are able to live in cold, salty and arid environments.
If they actually believe this, and this is not just another publicity stunt then they should be immediately start planning a mission that will send several probes to this location to observe this phenomena and collect data. But they probably just want billions of dollars to try to send people to Mars.
Life on Mars has already been discovered by somebody, but they're rolling out this news slowly so people don't flip their shit.
Nobody's going to "flip their shit". The fundamentalists will simply deny it, just as they do evolution, with convoluted tales of how the scientists have made mistakes.
I don't get it. Since when do the fundies take a position on extraterrestrial life? I've never heard that one before.
Dude, that's religion racism.
Fuck all religions.
For the sake of all that is Holy, don't take those Answers in Genesis wackos as speaking for all Christians. Science and Christianity are compatible. In the earlier times of "Western Civilisation", it was mostly Christians who were the great scientists, looking to understand God by working to understand what He has created.
Macroevolution is a theory and one that explains quite a bit of what we see, but it is not considered a Law yet. (Though even scientific "Laws" can be demoted or disproven, though the process by which it became a Law would generally indicate that it is highly unlikely that it will happen.) As a physician, my belief in macroevolution does not in any way impact my ability to treat my patients. The framework of macroevolution is a convenient framework upon which to understand embryology and developmental neurology, for example. Our current understanding of embryology and developmental neurology mesh nicely with macroevolution and macroevolution helps explain aspects of those two fields.
Acupuncture (especially the Five-elements / Worsley schools) has a clear and consistent framework that explains pretty much everything and is internally consistent. Acupuncture has been shown by studies conducted in conjunction with the WHO to be a viable treatment for many conditions. Applying acupuncture techniques in accordance with those principles is fairly repeatable. The main problem is that some of the diagnostic methods are subjective - what exactly constitutes a "thready" pulse, for example - there is the problem of inter-examiner reliability, much like taking a blood-pressure using a BP-cuff and a stethoscope. Taking a BP that way is still considered an acceptable practice, and in the case of unexpected readings one usually asks for a second examiner if one is available. (This is why doctors will often check the BP after the nurse has done it if the reading is unexpected.)
As a Christian, I would actually be surprised if there was NOT life on other planets, especially intelligent life. While this may seem to be heresy to some, I think of it in that the Bible clearly states that Man(kind) were created in the Image of God. Mankind are finite, God is infinite, therefore I suspect that the one form - homo sapiens, is not adequate to contain much of the Image of God. I know this is sheer speculation as we have not yet found evidence of intelligent life on other worlds, but it makes sense to me that an infinite God would not limit Himself to creating intelligent life in just one form or on only one world. Why must intelligent life be mammalian, for example? I cannot understand how intelligent plant-based life would work, but I can at least imagine intelligent animal life that is not mammalian. Even with mammals there is significant variety. Why not marsupials? Why no tail? Why only four limbs?
I would not arrogate to limit God. I simply seek to understand what I can using the gifts and resources available to me. I would personally find it fascinating to attempt to make sense of an alien language.
Please do not think that Ken Hamm and the Answers in Genesis folks speak for all Christians. They do not.
This is too funny - captcha is "godhead"
Here's hoping something like Tardigrades evolved on Mars too, if so, they'd probably still be revivable today even after a couple billion years.
An opposing opinion: http://www.popularmechanics.co...
"If Mars is equally lifeless, that will make exploring--and later settling--the planet much easier. We can go there and return without this particular worry, and we can introduce Earth life without concerns that we'll damage indigenous creatures. Astronauts won't have to be quarantined, and the environmental impact statement, or its interplanetary equivalent, will be easier to determine. On the other hand, if there is life on Mars, things get a lot tougher."
Pics or it didn't happen...
Seriously, I wanna SEE some water, not pictures of where we think water used to be, where it was 10 minutes ago and left just before we got there....I wanna see water...real flowing, sparkling, water.
-- Given enough time and money, Microsoft will eventualy invent UNIX.
The Catholic Church tends to be a lot more reasonable about these sorts of things. It's usually the crazy American protestants who ignore obvious facts.
How so? At no point does the Bible state that God only created humans nor does it exclude the idea that he created beings not in his image. I'm no biblical scholar nor a Christian but I don't see where it is incompatible or anything. It doesn't even extend to beyond the Earth so far as I know, except for the heavens which can be defined in a variety of ways. I have read the entire Bible but I didn't really understand all of it so I may be missing something. I should probably read it in a format other than the KJV.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
The idea that science and Christianity are compatible is a comfortable lie(for some). You would never accept a new vaccine because someone had a vision in a dream and then woke up and wrote down the formula. You would use the scientific method to determine if a vaccine works or not. Religion demands that you take the word of some unknown person having a revelation thousands of years ago as the truth for some pretty important questions. You are forced to not investigate and not question. This is the antithesis of science.
For the sake of all that is Holy, don't take those Answers in Genesis wackos as speaking for all Christians. Science and Christianity are compatible.
Uh, no. They are not. More generally, science and religious dogma are incompatible. One is a rational approach to knowledge and understanding, and the other is a collection of text purporting to be of divine origin and authority. Those two things are pretty much polar opposites. Now, if you want to argue that "scripture" should only be taken as metaphor... yada yada yada, OK. Fine. Please get all your Christian buddies to do so and then we'll talk. Until then, I will, quite accurately, place most of them in the "picks and chooses the 'word of God' to suit their need" group.
So there were canals on mars all this time!
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
Basically they are a passenger on the titanic saying "This ship can't be sinking, my end just rose 200 feet!".
--credit to a meme image I saw a while back:
http://d.justpo.st/media/image...