NASA researchers claim evidence of present life on Mars

NASA scientists claim they have found evidence that life exists NOW on Mars. Long story short they found signatures of biological activiity. The paper is now being peer reviewed. Here's the LINK


How do you think the average person will react to the news if this is found to be true? Of course more research will need to be done to confirm the findings. How different do you think life evolved on Mars will be from life on Earth?

this is fricken awesome soon enough our government will tell us that aliens do exist

The average person will accept it. In these modern times I doubt there are many people who actually believe we are the only life forms that exist. I'm betting that all life is pretty similiar, and the life that exists on mars is very similiar to the life on earth that live in similiar settings.

BTW Soldier, did you just read a post on Head-Fi that directed you to this article?

- Attero

Originally posted by ThEeNd
this is fricken awesome soon enough our government will tell us that aliens do exist

i dont know about this...

this is good news though...

mars is my favorite planet and now there could be life on mars...

anyway, i think that this will effect religions...

i mean, for example, did God ever say He created life elsewhere???

This could be good or bad.

Its good because it will put to rest the "life on other planets" question, but it could be bad in the long run. It could interfere in our colonization plans in the future, with pleas to "Save the Martian Microbes"

Anyone gave any thought to the idea that the life might have come from here anyhow? Maybe blasted into space from a asteroid strike?

Originally posted by Amuk
This could be good or bad.

Its good because it will put to rest the "life on other planets" question, but it could be bad in the long run. It could interfere in our colonization plans in the future, with pleas to "Save the Martian Microbes"

Anyone gave any thought to the idea that the life might have come from here anyhow? Maybe blasted into space from a asteroid strike?

i read the exact opposite...

a theory said that an asteroid hit mars (when it had life on it) and a chunk of mars hit earth and the microbes or whatever made life on earth...

i read it on ATS and the asteroid was found in antartica...

Originally posted by they see ALL
i read the exact opposite...

And both are Theory's but either way it could be used to say life was Unique and merely transported to the other planet.

We would have to have DNA tests to rule that out.

Originally posted by Amuk

And both are Theory's but either way it could be used to say life was Unique and merely transported to the other planet.

We would have to have DNA tests to rule that out.

yes...

the sad thing is that they are only theories and not fact...

when (if) it becomes fact, i will be happy

I think that the key element, here, is that this life is supposed to exist down in caves. Why is that important? Because it means that the 'If life does exist on Mars, it can't be anything larger than microbes' argument is up for grabs.

After the Mariner probes visited Mars decades ago it was shown that nothing existed on the SURFACE of the planet. Whenever people, over the time that transpired afterwards, talked about the notion of life on mars they talked, because of the early observations, about microbial life... simply because nothing large had obviously been detected. The question of whether or not microbial life could exist on Mars was framed because, based on the limitations of the time, the question of surface life was the only one people could think of.

In short, the question of Martian microbes dominated the debate because no large creatures had been observed on the planet's surface. Now that things like underground water and caves have been brought into the picture, though, it's time to think 'bigger'.

I'm always so confused by this
why the hell would anyone be bothered by this? It's so ignorant! Many people know there is other life out there, we're just waiting for the type of proof that the doubters will believe, which means it has to come the scientific community The government has slowly been getting the public ready for something....which I think is again, stupid....but then I guess you'd have all those doubters, religious nuts and elderly that would just freak or something, I dunno.....I don't understand it at all......never have!

Originally posted by LadyV

I'm always so confused by this
why the hell would anyone be bothered by this? It's so ignorant!

Many people know there is other life out there, we're just waiting for the type of proof that the doubters will believe, which means it has to come the scientific community

The government has slowly been getting the public ready for something....which I think is again, stupid....but then I guess you'd have all those doubters, religious nuts and elderly that would just freak or something, I dunno.....I don't understand it at all......never have!

Actually,

'religious nuts' aren't the only people the government is worried about in regards to disclosure (of even microbes). One of the key themes of the Brookings Report was that SCIENTIFIC AUTHORITIES would be undermined by the disclosure of life within the solar system because such a disclosure would, essentially, blast egg all over the faces of generations of scientific authorities.

As for religion... I think that anyone who has meditated and studied the religious texts of the world realizes that religion, in general, isn't about 'explaining' how the world 'is' as much as it is a quest to understand questions about human existence. I think that it's important to separate 'religion' from religions that take a literal and strict view of their sacred texts. In other words... yes, protestant sects that see the bible as the complete and literal Truth regarding the world will be shocked to find out about life on Mars... but other christian religions (Catholicism, some protestant groups, the orthodox church, etc) do not insist that the Bible is a total and absolute description of the entire physical universe. People -- even very religious people -- who read the bible as allegory that is intended to teach will not be freaked out by the discovery of life on other planets.

So... I just want to make it clear that it isn't correct to blame 'religious people' for the lack of ET disclosure.

[edit on 16-2-2005 by onlyinmydreams]

People will take "life on mars" in stride if it is microbial in nature or even plant-like. But if it is complex creature like a rabbit or a sentient being, there will be a lot of frightened people here on earth.

heck for some belivers all this new stuff just shows how wonderful God is

It is amazing tho how so many people jump to the concluion that there has to be Intellegent life there if there is any life. FOr all we know it could be bacteria, fugus, or other microbes that are producing the methene That should be the first assumption before flying off the handle and saying "alien exist and are going to hold the rovers for ransom. because they have defiled the sacred surface of mars."

I for one just want to know if the new life is edible, and how do they tase

IF definitive proof of life, regardless of shape, form or intelligence can be found, it would rank as one of the most, if not the most, important human discoveries of all time. Odds were good that life would exist somewhere out there, but proving it is so much better.

I am an astronomy major at the university I attend. I can tell you that the possibility of life coming to mars from an asteroid or such is completely false. The heat from re-entry is so intense that anything... any form of life even at its most basic would not survive the heat. This is compunded by the fact that an object entering an atmosphere like that of Mars' has to be of a certain mass and density to not completely burn up on its trip to the surface. Now i can tell you that fossilized remains are very possible. In viewing this fact the fossil would have to be a significant distance inside the object entering to survive, but it still is possible. I really don't want to discourage anyone because I am a hardcore believer in following whatever anyone chooses to believe, but the facts are that no life could have come to Mars via transport of a foreign object like an asteroid collision. It simply is not possible no matter how you look at it. Unless you want to talk about an artificially made asteroid... but I guess that's an entirely different post as well. Keep reading and researching-- everyone. One day the truth will be revealed to us by our government or by our own mass scale discovery... just have faith!

I didn't realize on my initial posting but the same rules apply for an asteroid and earth as they do with mars...

[edit on 17-2-2005 by slaughterdove]

Originally posted by slaughterdove
I am an astronomy major at the university I attend. I can tell you that the possibility of life coming to mars from an asteroid or such is completely false. The heat from re-entry is so intense that anything... any form of life even at its most basic would not survive the heat. This is compunded by the fact that an object entering an atmosphere like that of Mars' has to be of a certain mass and density to not completely burn up on its trip to the surface. Now i can tell you that fossilized remains are very possible. In viewing this fact the fossil would have to be a significant distance inside the object entering to survive, but it still is possible. I really don't want to discourage anyone because I am a hardcore believer in following whatever anyone chooses to believe, but the facts are that no life could have come to Mars via transport of a foreign object like an asteroid collision. It simply is not possible no matter how you look at it. Unless you want to talk about an artificially made asteroid... but I guess that's an entirely different post as well. Keep reading and researching-- everyone. One day the truth will be revealed to us by our government or by our own mass scale discovery... just have faith!

I didn't realize on my initial posting but the same rules apply for an asteroid and earth as they do with mars...

[edit on 17-2-2005 by slaughterdove]

No offense dude but just because you're an astronomy major does not mean you're right. "Facts" change all the time when it comes to knowledge of space and our universe. Mankind does not know a thousandth of a fraction of how things happen. There can be so many special circumstances that allow things to happen that were previously thought to be impossible. We are just scratching the surface of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to space.

The Problem With Declarative Belief Systems

Originally posted by slaughterdove
I really don't want to discourage anyone because I am a hardcore believer in following whatever anyone chooses to believe, but the facts are that no life could have come to Mars via transport of a foreign object like an asteroid collision.

This appears to apply to your own beliefs as well.

Please do not take my criticism the wrong way, because I am sure you are an intelligent person with a good (and improving) education.

The logical fallacy of your claim is that it is based on an exclusion of possibilities you cannot know of.

In other words, the basis of your argument is that because you don't know of a way for something to happen, it's impossible.

It's a common error, and I make it myself too.

My point is that we don't know, and that's okay.

There is a possibility that life came to Mars from somewhere else.

However, if you dismiss that out of hand, you condemn yourself to never being the one who figures out how that might happen.

Being skeptical means keeping an open mind.

You can be wrong, just like me, and if you keep that in mind, no achievement is beyond your reach.

[edit on 2/17/2005 by Majic]

I don't know why anyone would be that paranoid about the possibility of life on Mars. Alot if not most people in the US believed there were living intelligent Martians not that long ago. Anyone remember hearing of the War of The Worlds and the panic that followed the radio broadcast as people feared the Martians had invaded Earth? I don't think we will fear microbes the same way.

What about the fear of new disease? Well it's not like we don't have new diseases already, but a alien one would scare the general population more then that of the new strain of AIDS. Either way, I'm excited about this find, let's start drilling and see what we come up with.

Yay for trekkies everywhere! Somebody else says maybe theres life off earth!

This seems to be a steady occurance, somebody throws you people a bone and you make it through til the next one comes.