SCI/TECH: Martians Pose Threat to Earth!, page 1

posted on Dec, 3 2004 @ 01:11 AM

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No, not little green men in UFO's. This threat is posed by the tiny microbes that may travel back on our space probes. The increasingly likelyhood that life exists on Mars coupled with the fact that we're actively probing the surface of the planet, and then those probes are returning to earth is making the possibility of Martian contamination a real threat.

www.timesonline.co.uk
The search for life on Mars, now more than a century old, is still not finally resolved. But the odds that life existed there and may still exist are shortening, according to planetary experts, Dr Kargel said.

Nobody any longer expects Martian life forms to be anything like those on Earth. But there remains a possibility that bacteria or other microscopic organisms may survive in regions where there is still water. On Earth, almost every imaginable habitat, including deep underground, has specialised bacteria � called extremophiles � living and thriving.

The risks are twofold: probes sent from Earth may contaminate Mars with terrestrial bacteria, wrecking future studies of Martian life; or, more important, bacteria brought back from Mars may contaminate the Earth with unpredictable effects.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

Althought I'm sure the threat of this actually happening is very slim to none, it's something scientists should prepare for. The Apollo astronauts were placed in quarantine to ensure that they weren't carrying germs from the Moon. At any rate the population of earth getting ravaged by a Martian bug is something of science fiction, but as we all know sometimes the truth is stranger.

soficrow

posted on Dec, 3 2004 @ 12:22 PM

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Originally posted by PistolPete
bacteria brought back from Mars may contaminate the Earth with unpredictable effects.

At any rate the population of earth getting ravaged by a Martian bug is something of science fiction, but as we all know sometimes the truth is stranger.

...Looks to me like spin, seeded to 'explain' current epidemic diseases that are mutating out of control.

Oddly, many people believe in the Greys and UFO's, but not microbial evolution - or its dangers. ...The stage is set.

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[edit on 3-12-2004 by soficrow]

ShiftTrio

posted on Dec, 3 2004 @ 12:38 PM

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Not sure this is news worthy, they have been thinking this for decades, and I imagine precautions have been take to decontaminate such probes. Sound like this site is trying to creat some fright news, I think maybe they should look into Escaltors of death , they MAY be in your town! More at 11:00

chaosrain

posted on Dec, 3 2004 @ 12:48 PM

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Who is to say that Mars is the greatest threat...it seems that we may be the greatest threat to the universe based on this article:

Seeding the Universe

dubiousone

posted on Dec, 3 2004 @ 01:54 PM

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those probes are returning to earth

What probes sent to Mars have returned to earth? To my information, none. The probes that have been sent to Mars, entered its atmosphere, and landed on the planet, have no capability of leaving the planet's surface, much less return to earth.

infinite8

posted on Dec, 3 2004 @ 02:04 PM

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I'm more worried about the microbes escaping all of the frozen ice due to global warming. Virus and disease that has been covered for thousands of years. Another great example of this would be microbes that have been able to thrive in Lake Vostok buried beneath miles of ice and drilled into by researchers.

Amorymeltzer

posted on Dec, 3 2004 @ 05:39 PM

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id be more worried about our contamination of mars than theirs of ours. nothing has returned yet, but it will. we'll be careful, we were crazy careful with astronauts.

im not worried about microbial life we give to mars, im worried about destroying the place before we get a chance to use it. if we're going to live there, or try (and we should) then flying a nuclear rocket off to mars and then let it hang around and leak, well then im not ok with that. we need to be careful about what we get, but we need to be very careful about what we do. we're right on target so far, and im glad.