Mars Water Evidence Excites NASA

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 8:29 pm

Very interesting find on Mars..................................

CARLA · Post by **CARLA** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 8:37 pm

Yes indeed Chons signs of water means signs of life. :-6 Wonder if we can buy property yet and get a condo..

Lulu2 · Post by **Lulu2** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 9:00 pm

HAH! I just came in to post something about this! It's exciting to me, too--are you interested in Mars? Ever since middle school, it's been intriguing to me. Imagine what MIGHT be hiding in the soil, underneath the water?

(Have you read "The Martian Chronicles?"

The Martians had eyes "like golden coins." Did I ever tell you I met Ray Bradbury?)

CARLA · Post by **CARLA** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 9:05 pm

Cool LULU2 lets book a flight together..:driving:

[QUOTE](Have you read "The Martian Chronicles?" The Martians had eyes "like golden coins." Did I ever tell you I met Ray Bradbury?)[/QUOTE]

Fibonacci · Post by **Fibonacci** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 9:11 pm

Very exciting!!!

If water is actually discovered then Mars would have the 2 essential components to support life. Water and a stable heat source (the Sun:D )

Erinna1112 · Post by **Erinna1112** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 9:14 pm

Lulu2;480247 wrote: HAH! I just came in to post something about this! It's exciting to me, too--are you interested in Mars? Ever since middle school, it's been intriguing to me. Imagine what MIGHT be hiding in the soil, underneath the water?

(Have you read "The Martian Chronicles?"

The Martians had eyes "like golden coins." Did I ever tell you I met Ray Bradbury?)

Gads, it's been years since I read Martian Chronicles. How about "Stranger in a Strange Land"? Great read.

Lulu2 · Post by **Lulu2** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 9:26 pm

(I went to see a friend appear in a (rather bad) play. I was sitting next to a man who was also alone and we began chatting, as strangers do. Nice fellow. Later, I learned that it was Ray Bradbury! ARRRRGH! Of course, had I known, I'd've probably blubbered, stammered & made him uncomfortable. He's a genius.)

I'll bet that HE is excited about that water on Mars, too!

Galbally · Post by **Galbally** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 10:59 am

WOW, this is fantastic news, I hadn't caught up with this story, thats getting pretty close now. If its confirmed that there is liquid water anywhere on mars I would pretty much bet the house that there is life there, 99.99%, amazing, I wonder if life is definitley discovered whether it would be roughly analogous to Earth based life in terms of DNA and protein sequences and the biochemistry of the any of the basic life forms, it would tell us a lot about whether life elsewhere in the universe is more or less likely to be in some ways similar to life on earth. Its still not a certainty, but its getting closer, the harder they look the more likely these things seem. I wonder about Europa, that would be amazing, even more amazing that Mars I think. Well if they do find life on Mars then the creationists will have to invent a whole new layer of sophistry to exlpain how it ended up there, seeing as everying was basically put in place in a spring morning in 4,567 BC with a young couple somehere in Jordan in a garden, I wonder what they will say?

Galbally · Post by **Galbally** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 11:01 am

Lulu2;480264 wrote: (I went to see a friend appear in a (rather bad) play. I was sitting next to a man who was also alone and we began chatting, as strangers do. Nice fellow. Later, I learned that it was Ray Bradbury! ARRRRGH! Of course, had I known, I'd've probably blubbered, stammered & made him uncomfortable. He's a genius.)

I'll bet that HE is excited about that water on Mars, too!

You met Ray Bradury, and you were talking to him? That is so fricking cool for words! :-6

Lulu2 · Post by **Lulu2** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 4:39 pm

I know! I've met Dr. Jane Goodall, too....THREE TIMES! (Meeting one's heros is thrilling!)

(Note to self...this might be a good idea for a thread.)

(Tappity, tappity, tappity....off to post.....)

Galbally · Post by **Galbally** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 5:27 pm

Lulu2;481991 wrote: I know! I've met Dr. Jane Goodall, too....THREE TIMES! (Meeting one's heros is thrilling!)

(Note to self...this might be a good idea for a thread.)

(Tappity, tappity, tappity....off to post.....)

You mean the woman who studied the apes, you are just showing off now! :wah: Nah, seriously thats cracking, I would love to meet any of the leaky's and talk about early hominids, or I would have really loved to have met Carl Sagan, he was such a champion of rationality and humanity, I' love to pick Dawkins brain about biology, talk to penrose about physics, these people are the true greats of our time, I wish more people knew how amazing such people are, but I suppose one of the nice things about science and its associated fields is that the good people are never into it for money and fame (just as well, its hard to come by), its just good to know that there are such people out there.

Bill Sikes · Post by **Bill Sikes** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 5:46 am

Galbally;481680 wrote: If its confirmed that there is liquid water anywhere on mars I would pretty much bet the house that there is life there, 99.99%, amazing,

It would. However, could we touch it, without destroying it? Would it be safe

for us to go there? Two important questions. I expect the first would be of

secondary importance for many people!

Galbally · Post by **Galbally** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 4:27 pm

Bill Sikes;482342 wrote: It would. However, could we touch it, without destroying it? Would it be safe

for us to go there? Two important questions. I expect the first would be of

secondary importance for many people!

A very good point, one I have often thought about, and one often overlooked in science fiction, is that life on any other planet other than our own (to which we are perfectly adapted) would probably be the most dangerous thing biologically that we have ever enountered.

For example, imagine we discover a planet within say 20 light years of our own, that is earth-like and has as much life as our own, with a similar span of existence of life on Earth. It would of course be almost a certainty that anyone from our planet leading on that planet would immeadiatly (within say 24 hours) sicken and die from an onslaught of bacteria, and viruses that we would have never encountered before, (never mind the large scale fauna or flora) and such little creatures/lifeforms might not even be based on the same type of DNA that all life on earth is, (or DNA at all, or even Carbon, ) and that we would in consequence, have absolutely have no defence against any of them! Even the most relatively benign and harmless ones would be deadly to any of us. Also, unfortunatly, those decaying human bodies would still be full of earth bacteria, that would find themselves in a new biosphere, which was not adapted to them either, so they would either all die quickly, or would devastate life on that planet.

The only Science Fiction series I ever read that acknoleged this fact to any extent was the "Helliconia" series by Brian Aldiss, great books by the way, highly recommended. It may well be that the universe is teeming with earth-like planets, but ones that we could never visit personally without either dying horribly, or destroying by visiting.