Over at Yahoo News , it quotes a NASA scientist as
saying that they misplaced data from the Viking
Lander on Mars twenty five ago. He claims that rediscovered
data suggests that life does exist on Mars.
Wow!
metatron
Life on Mars, Again!
by metatron 6 Replies latest jw friends
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metatron
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bboyneko
Yes it's based on the gas emmisions when water was added to the soil of Mars, certain gases given off would be proof of micro-organisms living in the soil. The scientists said he was 90% sure the gas emissions were from life. Alot of people are skeptical saying the gas emmisions can cam from other means as well.
Personally, I think we will find either fossils or life on Mars. Some people are so sure of it there is some sort of petition to stop any retrieval of Martian soil samples for fear of a Andromedea strain nightmare virus :)
-Dan
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JanH
It is an interesting issue. It is important to realize the jury is still out.
There are now two lines of evidence for life on Mars. One is the Mars meteor, having metallic crystal structures typically made by a specific type of bacteria on Earth, and which indicates such bacteria once lived on Mars. The other is this new analysis, slightly more controversial, based on old Viking data.
This is a good example showing how science really works. I think almost all scientists would be extremely excited to find evidence of extraterrestrial life. Yet, as soon as one scientists posts new evidence, his collegues immediately come up and try to debunk the theory. They examine all his arguments carefully, and try to find holes in it. If they didn't, scientists would uncritically accept lots of junk. The self-correcting nature of science is what makes it the most successful method for understanding reality humans have so far developed. Sure, the system fails from time to time, but as long as intelligent, honest people employ sound doubts and skepticism about even the most popular ideas, we have the best chance of finding the facts.
This also demonstrates how far out to lunch conspiracy theoriests are. They typically rely on the idea that a large number of scientists can be pressured or for personal gain chose to ignore facts. Be it UFO buffs, alternative medicine or creationists, they all fail to understand how science works.
- Jan
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Faith, n. Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel. [Ambrose Bierce, The Devil´s Dictionary, 1911] -
ianao
I just wish the "scientists" would have come clean twenty five years ago instead of telling everyone the testing process was faulty AFTER it returned POSITIVE results in the '70s.
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individuals wife
Just read this today on Teletext page 316 in the UK..... thought it was along the same lines as the above.....
'BUGS' Prove Life in Space
--------------------------Living extraterrestrial bugs have been caught on the edge of the atmosphere, scientists have disclosed.
The microbes resemble bacteria found on Earth but the height at which they were found and their distribution indicates they fell from space, say scientists.
If the findings are confirmed it will be the first unequivocal proof that life exists beyond the Earth.
So what do you reckon to that then?? Would be interested to what the JWs have to say about this..... Life does not exist only on the earth as they claim. To me this is very compelling evidence that there is extraterrestrial life, maybe not little green men but still just as exciting! I await more information with excitement!
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ianao
Here's another goody...
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20010507/bacteria.html
Scientists Claim to Revive Alien Bacteria
By Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News
May 10 — Italian researchers claim to have found conclusive evidence that life on Earth arrived from outer space.
Bruno D'Argenio, a geologist working for the Italian National Research Council, and Giuseppe Geraci, professor of molecular biology at Naples University, identified and brought back to life extraterrestrial microorganisms lodged inside 4.5 billion-year-old meteorites kept at Naples' mineralogical museum.
"When in contact with a physiological solution, they became visible and began to move," D'Argenio said while presenting the finding at the Italian Space Agency yesterday.The bacteria, called "cryms" (for crystal microbes) by the researchers, remained dormant for billions of years and survived extreme ambient conditions — a clear indication, according to the researchers, that "life can exist everywhere in the solar system, though in a quiescent state."
Once brought back to life, the cryms were cloned by the researchers and their DNA analyzed.
"Their genetic code is unlike any known on Earth," said Giovanni F. Bignami, scientific director of the Italian Space Agency.
In studying the bacteria, the team found that they tend to gather in clusters. The bugs are also killed easily with antibiotics.
Disputing critics who suggested that the meteorites were contaminated with terrestrial microorganisms, Bignami added that the bacteria came back to life after the samples were sterilized at 950 degrees Celsius and doused in alcohol.
The discovery, if borne out, would strengthened the "panspermia" theory, first suggested by chemist Svante Aarhenius in 1900. According to this theory, outer space seeded Earth with primitive life forms about 4 billion years ago. The theory was recently supported by Nobel Prize winner Francis Crick, as well as noted scientists Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe.
"Life would have formed as an initial seed in the protoplanetary nebula from which all the planets originated. This microorganism can be found ... in planetary bodies and in the meteors fallen to Earth," said Bignami.
The Italian researchers have also identified microorganisms identical to the "cryms" found in the Naples meteorites in 50 samples of billion-year-old terrestrial rocks from five continents.
"I'm skeptical, very skeptical," biologist Martino Rizzotti of Padua University told the daily newspaper La Stampa. "Those bacteria seem to be too similar to the terrestrial ones. I can't avoid thinking about possible contaminations."
Margherita Hack, director of the Inter-University Regional Center for Astrophysics and Cosmology in Trieste, is more positive. "It is very likely that life is spread in universe. This is an interesting result, but it requires more study to be completely accepted," she said.
Today the researchers present their findings at the Accademia dei Lincei (Academy of the Lynxes) in Rome, a prestigious scholarly organization that counts Galileo Galilei among its members.
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Moxy
exciting sure, but the WT never really said there could _never_ be life on other planets. conclusive evidence of martian bacteria is certainly not going to send ripples of discord thru the JW culture. now _intellegent_ life, that would be another matter.
mox