Planet Four Talk

The chances of anything coming from Mars.....

  • delete_adc0630b by delete_adc0630b

    ...are a million to one, but:
    http://phys.org/news/2013-08-martians-theory-life-mars.html

    Posted

  • Kitharode by Kitharode moderator

    "...are a million to one, they say". Mr Moody Blue may have been right, but he may have been wrong. The article says "molybdenum, which may have been crucial...", but equally it may not have been crucial.

    Molybdenum is a required element for life in all higher organisms (eukaryotes), though not in all bacteria. It may be that the first life forms on Earth were bacterial, in which case molybdenum doesn't enter into the argument. (Or maybe not). 😉

    Good 'chat' material though. Nice to see you here. Cheers.

    Posted

  • Kitharode by Kitharode moderator

    PS: If truth be known, we're probably nearer to 'Woodstock' than 'War of The Worlds'. C,S,N & Y have it right:

    *We are Stardust - We are Golden. ** 😛 ***

    Posted

  • mschwamb by mschwamb scientist, translator

    When there's a paper I think there's more to actually comment on, but without a paper hard to say much than I think is speculation. Good to have people investigating it, but I think it's more that the press have jumped on it, rather than it's a huge result that's come out. Mainly someone giving a keynote at a conference who decided to talk about this topic and their results on why they think life might have started on Mars. I'd keep the jury out and take this with a big grain of salt until there's a peer reviewed paper. This isn't the first time an idea like this has been proposed - it's called panspermia

    Cheers,

    ~Meg

    Posted

  • Kitharode by Kitharode moderator

    Well said Meg. The press do play a big part in making these stories bigger than they are. Yes investigation of all ideas is important, but firm evidence and peer review, as you suggest, is more important in the end analysis.

    This is partly why I haven't published my own paper yet; "Gravity is a push, not a pull". 😉

    Posted

  • wassock by wassock moderator

    The news report I saw played like bad/incomplete science used to fill a quiet day in the newsroom. Speculation upon speculation. IF molybdenum (special oxide type) is important then there MAY have been some on Mars and there MIGHT NOT have been any on Earth.
    Bit in the paper yesterday showing how the polar ice is 67 percent bigger this year than last, global warming has definitly stopped and best lay in the thermal underwear cos there is a ice age coming 😃

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