Something big going on with Curiosity on Mars:

http://phys.org/news/2012-11-sam.html

They are talking earth shattering news to come out in a few weeks, all hush hush for now.

Some people are saying they found proof that life CAN'T be on Mars. News at 11 in a few weeks though!

Originally posted by sonhouse
http://phys.org/news/2012-11-sam.html

They are talking earth shattering news to come out in a few weeks, all hush hush for now.

Some people are saying they found proof that life CAN'T be on Mars. News at 11 in a few weeks though!

Finding proof that life could never be on Mars would be extremely tough.

As we have not yet fully bounded the conditions in which life can exist, and the known
examples get pretty extreme.

Given the short elapsed time I would say that it's more likely that they are gearing up
to announce the discovery that there was life on Mars (or less likely that there IS life on Mars).


However, I'll get excited if and when they actually make that announcement... And people
have checked and double checked it for errors.

It wouldn't be the first time that people have got over excited about this kind of things before.

Originally posted by sonhouse
http://phys.org/news/2012-11-sam.html

They are talking earth shattering news to come out in a few weeks, all hush hush for now.

Some people are saying they found proof that life CAN'T be on Mars. News at 11 in a few weeks though!

I predict they actually found proof of life there. What would be better is if they found a living organism there. Not that it makes much difference but it would finally put the question to bed.

Originally posted by joe beyser
I predict they actually found proof of life there. What would be better is if they found a living organism there. Not that it makes much difference but it would finally put the question to bed.

A big thigh bone sticking out of a cliff would do it for me!

Originally posted by sonhouse
A big thigh bone sticking out of a cliff would do it for me!

Sadly, while it currently looks like simple life (bacteria) is very easy to form, and thus
should be common.

Complex life that might have a thigh bone is very rare and hard to form.

We went for billions of years with only bacteria before one single solitary organism
developed the trait that allowed it to become complex in an unbelievably unlikely
fluke accident. (it swallowed another that could be used as a power source)

Given that Mars had a much shorter window in which life could potentially exist before it
froze and lost it's atmosphere, I would say that the chances of Mars ever having anything more
exciting than mats of bacteria on it are pretty slim.

That said it would be awesome to be proven wrong on this ;-)

Originally posted by sonhouse
A big thigh bone sticking out of a cliff would do it for me!

Just a thigh bone? How about a T rex scull?

Originally posted by joe beyser
Just a thigh bone? How about a T rex scull?

There would be just so much wrong with that.
That would be the biggest scientific mystery of all time albeit short of finding a freshly frozen whole carcass of a blue whale there.

i happen to know what the discovery is
my uncle harry works for NASA
he told me that they found a 1946 Remington typwriter
you can trust uncle harry
he's never joked about anything in his life

Originally posted by humy
There would be just so much wrong with that.
That would be the biggest scientific mystery of all time albeit short of finding a freshly frozen whole carcass of a blue whale there.

I think a coke bottle would do just as well.

Originally posted by sonhouse
I think a coke bottle would do just as well.

Maybe a few spent 30 30 shells laying on the ground.

Originally posted by joe beyser
Maybe a few spent 30 30 shells laying on the ground.

My guess: They sniffed out methane, a gas that is usually associated with life. Only problem is, it's difficult to tell life methane from volcanic methane which is maybe why they have backed off the 'earthshaking' announcement.

If it was some kind of undeniable image of a life form, some kind of likens or mossy stuff they would have trounced on that kind of thing so it has to be something more subtle.

Originally posted by sonhouse
My guess: They sniffed out methane, a gas that is usually associated with life. Only problem is, it's difficult to tell life methane from volcanic methane which is maybe why they have backed off the 'earthshaking' announcement.

If it was some kind of undeniable image of a life form, some kind of likens or mossy stuff they would have trounced on that kind of thing so it has to be something more subtle.

Sadly it's all just a misunderstanding.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2012/11/27/nasa_mars_discovery_misunderstanding_mission_leader_excited_about_entire.html

Originally posted by googlefudge
Sadly it's all just a misunderstanding.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2012/11/27/nasa_mars_discovery_misunderstanding_mission_leader_excited_about_entire.html

Too bad, we were all waiting for some big news.

Now it's downgraded to 'interesting'. Oh well.

Originally posted by sonhouse
Too bad, we were all waiting for some big news.

Now it's downgraded to 'interesting'. Oh well.

Maybe didn't find a T rex skull but found a sharks tooth instead.

Originally posted by joe beyser
Maybe a few spent 30 30 shells laying on the ground.

They were fired against parasitic aliens with acid for blood.