Originally posted by Xtal_Phusion
As an astrobiologist, I would be the first one celebrating if life is discovered on Mars but so far, I have not seen anything to indicate it exists
there now. However, there IS evidence of liquid water present periodically on the surface and it is possible that even larger amounts lie beneath the
surface. Hope remains and it is still worth investigating further but we can't break out the champagne just yet, guys.
So there IS water on Mars! If so,
Water = Life = Evolution. But then, if there were organic life forms on Mars, then that life had to evolve
like it did on Earth, over millions of years though probably not in the same fashion. It's natural.
As you are aware, evolution generally results from three processes of random mutation to genetic material, random genetic drift, and non-random
natural selection. Or is it that this process of evolution ONLY applies to Earth and nowhere else in the universe?
So now the point is, at what stage has or had this evolution reached on Mars?
In 1993, Baross and UW colleague Jody Deming published a paper entitled "Deep-sea smokers: The paper states that superthermophilic microorganisms
inhabit pressurized environments beneath deep-sea hydrothermal vents. These super-organisms not only exist, but thrive at temperatures up to and
possibly beyond 150o Centigrade (more than 300o Fahrenheit), setting a new limit at which life can exist.
After Baross and Deming published their paper, John Parkes discovered bacteria in a marine sediment core that substantiated the idea of
superthermophilic organisms. While working with the NSF-funded Ocean Drilling Project, Parkes, of the United Kingdom's University of Bristol,
discovered bacteria that lives at a temperature of 169o Centigrade.
"We believe that the study of extreme environments on Earth and the life they support," says Mike Purdy, coordinator of the new NSF initiative,
"is the most effective way of understanding how and where life may exist on other planets and what the limits of life might be on our own."
Research supported by LexEn is expected to lead to the discovery of a diverse group of microorganisms, the lifestyles and biology of which can now
only be guessed, Purdy adds.
Right! We are only NOW beginning to understand the existence of life in extreme conditions on
Earth. Mars is a long way off! But I guess Mars
isn't all that bad!!
Cheers!!
More.
[edit on 8-4-2007 by mikesingh]
