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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.
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.
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.
They seek from the Bible inspiration, a cultural identity, etc., but not doctrine.
Well, I hate to tell you, but the vast majority of Christians would consider you to be a heretic at best. And the same would happen at any given point in the history of Christianity. Your version might be more intellectually palatable, but don't imagine for a moment that it represents a majority.
All that is necessary for the triumph of good is that evil men do nothing.