News story about Mars.

TrailerParkJawa · Post by **TrailerParkJawa** » 2002-12-06 10:26pm

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 074940.htm

Anyone catch this today? I saw the story on the news section of Google.

Its about an idea that Mars has been cold and dry most of its life, with very short periods of wet and warm.

data_link · Post by **data_link** » 2002-12-07 12:20am

Don't you just hate it when hard science smashes your pet theories? So much for life on mars...

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2002-12-07 12:22am

Maybe some bacteria adapted to the cold life. Who knows?

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2002-12-07 01:00am

rocks from mines 400 feet below the surface have been cracked open and there have been microbes living and thriving in the rock. I think its very likely that the entirety of mars is infused with life. And theres always the pyramids and the face and the hidden underground alien bases

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2002-12-07 09:27pm

kojikun wrote:rocks from mines 400 feet below the surface have been cracked open and there have been microbes living and thriving in the rock. I think its very likely that the entirety of mars is infused with life. And theres always the pyramids and the face and the hidden underground alien bases

Quiet you. Nobody must know about my bases.

Though the new report doesn't entirely rule out the possibility of life, it does kinda make it more unlikely to have extremely advanced forms. I think.

The Dark · Post by **The Dark** » 2002-12-07 09:34pm

kojikun wrote:<snip>And theres always the pyramids and the face and the hidden underground alien bases

The pyramids and face have been found to be normal rock formations that cast unusual shadows. Unless, of course, you're a conspiracy theorist, in which case paranoia away!

TrailerParkJawa · Post by **TrailerParkJawa** » 2002-12-08 03:20am

If this new theory is true, it sorta puts a downer on Mars having a different climate at one time.

Im starting to wonder if the conditions for life are very rare. I saw a show on tv recently about the role Jupiter plays in allowing life to exist on Earth.

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2002-12-08 04:18am

But what about the fossilized microbes found in an asteroid that used to be a fragment of Mars??

kheegster · Post by **kheegster** » 2002-12-08 08:05am

Simon H.Johansen wrote:But what about the fossilized microbes found in an asteroid that used to be a fragment of Mars??

The prevailing view nowadays is that the microbes are the results of terrestial contamination...that rock has been sitting in Antartica for millenia, after all.

However, ESA's Beagle 2 probe will be landing on Mars in about a year's time and it will be carrying life-detecting equipment which are more sensitive than those on the Vikings...

KG

GrandMasterTerwynn · Post by **GrandMasterTerwynn** » 2002-12-09 01:07am

Simon H.Johansen wrote:But what about the fossilized microbes found in an asteroid that used to be a fragment of Mars??

Problems with that are myriad.

A) The meteorite has been on Earth for a bloody long time.

B) The structures are almost much too small to contain much of the machinery of life.

C) Non-biological processes could likely have formed the features too.