BREAKING: Possible Anouncement Of Life Found On Mars...

Oh Boy...I guess the Fundamentalist Christian aren't going to be too happy about this!! Should someone go tell them?

Like many citizens of the ATS nation, I believe this is big news, but unfortunately big news such as this will always be shrugged away for Paris Hilton and the latest update for this Fall pet fashion show lineup.

Anyways, so the question now is, did the martian microbes originate from ancient asteroid-riding ancestor (as pj mentioned), or did they slowly form from whatever chemical properties was left on mars..

[edit on 23-8-2007 by skyblueff0]

[edit on 23-8-2007 by skyblueff0]

Originally posted by stumason
This is, after all, just one scientists results based on data obtained 30 odd years ago from the Viking probes.

Agreed. I looked up the announcement, and Drudge seems to have jumped the gun and made some unfounded assumptions.
www.marstoday.com...

It needs to be peer reviewed and if found to be "acceptable" in it's findings, then it'll take another probe to actually confirm life.

Agreed.

In looking at his papers, I believe Houtkooper's going to have a very hard time with this one. He postulated hydrogen peroxide based life and has reinterpreted known data.
journals.cambridge.org...

He also believes in paranormal things (and has done some papers on this topic) in the 1990's. The papers aren't cited by many, so this indicates he's not a leading researcher.

His current announcement seems to be a reprise of one he made earlier, which was ignored by everyone. He's doing The Big Splash now, but when I look at the rather bare bones article with no citations and no data, it's obvious that scientists aren't going to listen to him.
www.cosis.net...

He starts with some presumptions and then treats them as fact. He's got to do much better than that.

In either case, more tests will be run when the new landers arrive. We shall see. He may be one of those types like paleontologist Bob Baker (who is considered to be very annoying and somewhat unethical in paleontological circles) who was very much ahead of his time in describing the correct stance for T Rex and making predictions about feathered dinosaurs. His loose-cannon style and so forth created a lot of skepticism. Houtkooper will have equal amounts of skepticism to overcome.

[edit on 23-8-2007 by Byrd]

No that they originally did'nt interpret the data correctly, we might have know about life on mars since before you where born..

Originally posted by Diplomat
I agree with the people saying that this is not a big deal at all. Some scientist has a little theory about some 30-year old soil? That is hardly what I would call "discovering life on Mars."

It is good, however, to keep this subject in the media overall. Like some others said earlier, I also hope this gives the space program a boost.

There is probably all kinds of crazy microbial life in our Solar System, we just need to get off of our asses and go check it out. We haven't even been to the next rock over from us yet...

[edit on 23-8-2007 by Diplomat]

I dont see why religion would be destroyed by it..all life is part of gods creation..its not such a stretch..

Originally posted by skyblueff0
Oh Boy...I guess the Fundamentalist Christian aren't going to be too happy about this!! Should someone go tell them?

Like many citizens of the ATS nation, I believe this is big news, but unfortunately big news such as this will always be shrugged away for Paris Hilton and the latest update for this Fall pet fashion show lineup.

Anyways, so the question now is, did the martian microbes originate from ancient asteroid-riding ancestor (as pj mentioned), or did they slowly form from whatever chemical properties was left on mars..

[edit on 23-8-2007 by skyblueff0]

[edit on 23-8-2007 by skyblueff0]

forgive me if someone else has brought this up already i only scanned through this thread.

what is the possibility that microbes have traveled to mars on our probes? i know that simple life forms can survive in the most extreme places on earth. so why wouldnt they survive elsewhere

if this may have happened. i would have to wonder what life forms might develop from this? Just to note i am not a big fan of evolution, but ive been wrong before.

one more add on. this is on coast to coast right now. so you might want to check this out. c2c is how i found out about ats by the way.

[edit on 15pmu112007 by DaleGribble]

[edit on 15amu122007 by DaleGribble]

reply to post by Rockpuck

Just because there is life on Mars or anywhere in the Universe does not mean that there is no God or Religion is false im a Christian and as far as I know in the bible is says no where that this is the only place where God made Life.

reply to post by wildone106


Don't get me wrong, now I didn't say all religion wouldn't except this, I'm pretty religious, and I mean I find this great news. But, not all religion is going to find embrace this discovery, especially those who read the bible literally. I mean if other planets harbor life, earth wouldn't be as unique and special anymore.

Offtopic: Sigh, why am I saying this, while I was studying for a chem exam at 3am, a bible leader randomly, came up to me and gave me this hour long lecture about how the some "scientists" have discovered and shown that earth is so uniquely placed in the universe that it is the only planet that managed to harbor life, and that was a sign that the bible was right, and we were uniquely created by god. And how evolution is wrong!!

While I'm sure not all fundamentalist Christian are like this, there will be others that are.

[edit on 24-8-2007 by skyblueff0]

Besides all of that, even if life does exist everywhere in the universe, that doesn't detract from the presence of an omniscient being that sits and watches, while in control of it all. I can say with certainty that my beliefs will not be swayed by any discovery out there. Quite the contrary actually.

If we remember in Genesis, God did tell Adam and Eve to go and RE-populate the Earth after all. The RE in there is the interesting tidbit. It suggests so many things that I won't run off on that tangent right now. Just suffice it to say that the universe is nothing like we think it is, and yet it's everything that we believe it's capable of, and more.

TheBorg

I remember attending a lecture over 10 years ago that suggested that in all likelyhood, life as we know it began on mars, since mars would have had a far more hospitable environment before the earth got even close to such, and that it was plausible that some astronomical event, such as an asteroid, had spread such life to the earth

Wouldn't that be funny, if we were the "martians" all along.

reply to post by Donoso


Well, just because you see "no shred of evidence", doesnt mean that thats the case with everybody. I have witnessed, seen, felt, experienced plenty of evidence since my childhood. So for me "alien life" is a given, self-evident, normal. Which is why microorganisms on mars do not excite me as much as they excite those who have no such experience. A full scale public landing...now THAT will excite me. But no offense...I understand that for most people "theres not a shred of evidence" and the Mars findings are exciting.

Hummm, I don't want to rain on this but this was discussed either at the beginning of this year or in late 2006.

Judt did a search on google and this is what I found.

Exclusive: NASA Researchers Claim Evidence of Present Life on Mars
By Brian Berger
Space News Staff Writer
posted: 16 February 2005
02:09 pm ET

WASHINGTON -- A pair of NASA scientists told a group of space officials at a private meeting here Sunday that they have found strong evidence that life may exist today on Mars, hidden away in caves and sustained by pockets of water.

The scientists, Carol Stoker and Larry Lemke of NASA's Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, told the group that they have submitted their findings to the journal Nature for publication in May, and their paper currently is being peer reviewed.

www.space.com...

Actually even before the above there was this too.

Life on Mars Likely, Scientist Claims

By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
posted: 03 August 2004
07:00 am ET

DENVER, COLORADO - Those twin robots hard at work on Mars have transmitted teasing views that reinforce the prospect that microbial life may exist on the red planet.

Results from NASA's Spirit and Opportunity rovers are being looked over by a legion of planetary experts, including a scientist who remains steadfast that his experiment in 1976 proved the presence of active microbial life in the topsoil of Mars.

"All factors necessary to constitute a habitat for life as we know it exist on current-day Mars," explained Gilbert Levin, executive officer for science at Spherix Incorporated of Beltsville, Maryland.

.............................
Provocative find

Levin has a long-standing interest in time-weathered Mars and the promise of life today on that distant and dusty world.

NASA's 1976 Viking mission to Mars was geared-up to look for possible martian life. And it was Levin's Labeled Release experiment that made a provocative find: The presence of a highly reactive agent in the surface material of Mars.

Levin concluded in 1997 that this activity was triggered by living microorganisms lurking in the martian soil - a judgment he admits has not been generally accepted by the scientific community.

www.space.com...

reply to post by Skyfloating


Right, but that's all anecdotal evidence. I've seen my fair share of UFO's ever since my early childhood, I'm not going to run around and preach that as any truth though. It's not.

This doesn't seem to be news for some though. You remember the first time they made that announcement and recanted it? I'm glad Germany had the bowels to make news of this. Shouldn't there also be a formal announcement from NASA? This is pissing me off already.

reply to post by Donoso


Its not your truth, its mine. And I can speak my truth if I want to and at the same time acknowledge that your truth is different. fair enough?

in any case, on a website where most people take the existence of aliens as a natural thing I wonder why everyone is acting so surprised and excited about the evidence of alien life...maybe they didnt REALLY believe it.

reply to post by Donoso


When you say theres no evidence and its not truth, then you are talking about truth/evidence according to those who pose as "authorities". but some of us dont need the approval of these "authorities" in order to define whats real..

Originally posted by Byrd

He also believes in paranormal things (and has done some papers on this topic) in the 1990's. The papers aren't cited by many, so this indicates he's not a leading researcher.

[edit on 23-8-2007 by Byrd]

This almost sounds like "he believes in paranormal things, so he is not a leading scientist. I know thats not what you said, but thats what you are implying, isnt it.

Originally posted by nataylor

So he is, most likely, a full of crap nutjob.

Whoa, hit the brakes! How did you arrive at that conclusion? Are you suggesting that all parapsychologists are nut cases by default? Not that I am for or against this Joop fellow, but why would you make such a stereotypical statement?

I arrived at that conclusion because based on the papers he's published, I see nothing that would qualify this man as an expert in molecular biology. Which he would need to be to make this determination. I suspect there will be no hard evidence to back up these claims.

[edit on 23-8-2007 by nataylor]

Do you investigations before you shout. For those of you who read Dutch: here's an interesting link.

This article basically says that he may have found an explanation for an anomaly that the Viking Marslander found where oxygen levels and carbondioxe levels in the soil rose without any appearant reason. What the professor has done, togheter with dr. Schulze-Makuch from Washington State University is compare this with earthly bacterial lifeforms in the acrtic that are based on hydrogenperoxide and came to the conclusion that a lifeform based on hydrogenperoxide could account for the readings. The hydrogenperoxide would serve as 'anti freeze' to keep the cells from crystallizing in the cold. He himself states it as 'a very plausible theory', but none the less, just a theory. He thinks that Phoenix Marslander would be able to discover such microbes - if they exist.

So, as usual, the story is blown way out of proportion. Life on Mars is not proven. But this theory is a step forwards in the discovery of life outside our Earth.

Back to the reason of my post: Just because a google search turns up with some papers about the paranormal that this man wrote it doesn't mean you don't have to take him serious? He is just interested in both Paranormal AND microbiology and he writes about it. Don't crucify him for it.

By the way, I think more people would take you serious if you say you believe in telekinesis than if you say you believe in alien abductions.

[edit on 24-8-2007 by cappuccino]

Relax people! This might be earthly originated microbes that had condaminated the mars soil.
Don't forget the Surveyor3 experiment. Earth microbes lasted on the lunar surface for almost 2 years.

I see lots of other NEWS sites are picking up this story over the last several hours....

ABC NEWS SOURCE

CANADA NEWS SOURCE

CHINA NEWS SOURCE

ZEE NEWS

UK NEWS SOURCE