NASA Expected to Announce Signs of Life on Mars

[SUBMAN1]

http://www.dailytech.com/NASA+Expected+to+Announce+Signs+of+Life+on+Mars/article13948.htm

This should be interesting.

-S

[MothBalls]

I'm still waiting for them to discover signs of intelligent life on Earth.

[Morts]

I'm still waiting for them to discover signs of intelligent life on Earth.
aye, me too

[Dowly]

I hope they find something that differs from the life we see on Earth, something that takes everything we know about how living stuff works and turns it upside-down. :yep:

[DeepIron]

Well, NASA has to do something, no matter how speculative it is. With the incoming administration threatening to cut/reduce funding, NASA better get the general public hooked on a new dream...

The Hubble, one of the most significant and successful NASA projects of all time, is old news and coming to the end of it's usable life. Can't pump anymore $$$ into it...

So why not Mars? The two rovers who's "warranties" expired over what, 4 years ago, are still running strong and have been a credit to Nasa. But the pictures of Martian rocks are getting boring and the rovers are "old news"...

[AVGWarhawk]

I hope they find something that differs from the life we see on Earth, something that takes everything we know about how living stuff works and turns it upside-down. :yep:

I think that is called toe jam. :88)

[Kapt Z]

I hope they find something that differs from the life we see on Earth, something that takes everything we know about how living stuff works and turns it upside-down. :yep:

I think that is called toe jam. :88)

The building block of civilizations....:D

[longam]

Naval Jelly holds it all together.

[August]

I hope they find something that differs from the life we see on Earth, something that takes everything we know about how living stuff works and turns it upside-down. :yep:

Sure, as long as they keep it isolated from our environment. I doubt there'd be much natural immunity in man, beast or plant against space bugs so if they get loose on Earth it could be catastrophic.

[Dowly]

I hope they find something that differs from the life we see on Earth, something that takes everything we know about how living stuff works and turns it upside-down. :yep:
Sure, as long as they keep it isolated from our environment.

AFAIK, that's the plan with anything they find. :up:

[UnderseaLcpl]

I hope they find something that differs from the life we see on Earth, something that takes everything we know about how living stuff works and turns it upside-down. :yep:

Sure, as long as they keep it isolated from our environment. I doubt there'd be much natural immunity in man, beast or plant against space bugs so if they get loose on Earth it could be catastrophic.

Or, they might die immediately upon exposure to Earth's brutal gravity and toxic, crushing, nitrogen atmosphere:hmm:

I kid, but what really worries me is the possibility of an extraterrestrial virus. I don't know if a virus would qualify as "life", since last time I checked we don't have a proper classification for them yet, but it could be the deadliest bug ever to hit the planet. I suppose a microbe could survive in our environment, we have plenty of anaerobic bacteria that live in all kinds of hostile extremes, after all. But, the odds of such a microbe finding living animals on earth as suitable hosts seem slim to me.
A virus, however, is a lot simpler than a bacterium, and generally, a lot hardier. And all viruses attack cells. An alien virus set loose in a world with no built-in immunity from millions of years of natural selection could easily wipe out the majority of suitable hosts on the planet in very little time. :o

[Dowly]

I hope they find something that differs from the life we see on Earth, something that takes everything we know about how living stuff works and turns it upside-down. :yep:
Sure, as long as they keep it isolated from our environment. I doubt there'd be much natural immunity in man, beast or plant against space bugs so if they get loose on Earth it could be catastrophic.
Or, they might die immediately upon exposure to Earth's brutal gravity and toxic, crushing, nitrogen atmosphere:hmm:

Actually, that is an possibility. :yep:

[August]

An alien virus set loose in a world with no built-in immunity from millions of years of natural selection could easily wipe out the majority of suitable hosts on the planet in very little time. :o

Especially given rapid transportation and large populations. Heck we're pretty vulnerable to "home grown" virus's.

[UnderseaLcpl]

An alien virus set loose in a world with no built-in immunity from millions of years of natural selection could easily wipe out the majority of suitable hosts on the planet in very little time. :o

Especially given rapid transportation and large populations. Heck we're pretty vulnerable to "home grown" virus's.

Oh, not as much as you might think. Granted, individuals are very susceptible, but as a species, we're pretty resistant. Any guess what our most effective defense is?

hint- it's something people think about all the time and yet never realize why we have it

[August]

An alien virus set loose in a world with no built-in immunity from millions of years of natural selection could easily wipe out the majority of suitable hosts on the planet in very little time. :o
Especially given rapid transportation and large populations. Heck we're pretty vulnerable to "home grown" virus's.
Oh, not as much as you might think. Granted, individuals are very susceptible, but as a species, we're pretty resistant. Any guess what our most effective defense is?

hint- it's something people think about all the time and yet never realize why we have it

Well Racial variation would be my guess but that is not a foolproof defense against every virus. Think Ebola with a longer incubation period between infection and noticeable symptoms. It's quite possible that a virus will come along that overcomes our resistances and outpaces our containment efforts.

[Letum]

Any guess what our most effective defense is?
hint- it's something people think about all the time and yet never realize why we have it

Nipples?!
How do nipples help against viruses?

[UnderseaLcpl]

:rotfl: Cute, Letum.

[Zachstar]

I highly doubt this.

Such an announcement would be like announcing the discovery of electricity.

The answer to "are we alone"

I doubt they have found anything that big.

[UnderseaLcpl]

Well Racial variation would be my guess but that is not a foolproof defense against every virus. Think Ebola with a longer incubation period between infection and noticeable symptoms. It's quite possible that a virus will come along that overcomes our resistances and outpaces our containment efforts.

Good guess, but the answer is sexual intercourse. And believe it or not, I don't think that just because I'm a guy:D

Asexual organsims reproduce much, much, more efficiently than more complex, sexually-reproducing organisms do. From an evolutionary standpoint, asexual organisms should be the most dominant lifeforms on the planet, and they are, to some extent. But they have one fatal weakness; virtually identical genetic code.

Viruses depend upon molecular interaction to enter a cell and inject their RNA. They are, after all, nothing more than protein shells with a nucleus. When a virus with a suitable protein coat encounters a genetically identical populace, all hell breaks loose. Every single cell is suceptible, because they all have the same cellular membrane, and thus, are all susceptible to the same virus. As such, asexual organism populations are easily devestated by viral infenctions. Their only defense is that, being so many and so widespread, they are all but impossible to eradicate entirely. Then again, they rarely survive long enough to develop more complex structures.

Complex organisms (often referred to as k-strategists) use a different method. They take a long time to develop and reach sexual maturity, so they will never out-produce the viruses. Instead, they recombinate genetic material every generation. This, in turn, changes the genetic code of every cell, and has potential to change the molecular makeup of the cell membreanes to some degree.

Any particular strain of virus is a key, and it needs to find a lock that fits. Sexual creatures "change the locks" every generation, thus reducing the probability that a virus will destroy the whole population. We're still susceptible because viruses exsist in such vast numbers that simple anomalous mutation will likely produce at least one viable strain, but even in the most devestating viral plagues, there are plenty of survivors.

It's a little bit too complex to use as a pickup line, but it's still a good excuse for sex:D

[August]

...but even in the most devestating viral plagues, there are plenty of survivors.

Well I certaqinly hope you are right. I never heard of someone being immune to something like Ebola though...

[Blacklight]

This is as close to an announcement you're going to get... for now:

From www.nasa.gov (http://www.nasa.gov) :

Martian Methane Reveals the Red Planet is not a Dead Planet
01.15.09

Mars today is a world of cold and lonely deserts, apparently without life of any kind, at least on the surface. Worse still, it looks like Mars has been cold and dry for billions of years, with an atmosphere so thin, any liquid water on the surface quickly boils away while the sun's ultraviolet radiation scorches the ground.

But there is evidence of a warmer and wetter past -- features resembling dry riverbeds and minerals that form in the presence of water indicate water once flowed through Martian sands. Since liquid water is required for all known forms of life, scientists wonder if life could have risen on Mars, and if it did, what became of it as the Martian climate changed.

New research reveals there is hope for Mars yet. The first definitive detection of methane in the atmosphere of Mars indicates the planet is still alive, in either a biologic or geologic sense, according to a team of NASA and university scientists.

"Methane is quickly destroyed in the Martian atmosphere in a variety of ways, so our discovery of substantial plumes of methane in the northern hemisphere of Mars in 2003 indicates some ongoing process is releasing the gas," said Dr. Michael Mumma of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "At northern mid-summer, methane is released at a rate comparable to that of the massive hydrocarbon seep at Coal Oil Point in Santa Barbara, Calif."

Methane -- four atoms of hydrogen bound to a carbon atom -- is the main component of natural gas on Earth. It's of interest to astrobiologists because organisms release much of Earth's methane as they digest nutrients. However, other purely geological processes, like oxidation of iron, also release methane. "Right now, we don’t have enough information to tell if biology or geology -- or both -- is producing the methane on Mars," said Mumma. "But it does tell us that the planet is still alive, at least in a geologic sense. It's as if Mars is challenging us, saying, hey, find out what this means." Mumma is lead author of a paper on this research appearing in Science Express Jan. 15.

If microscopic Martian life is producing the methane, it likely resides far below the surface, where it's still warm enough for liquid water to exist. Liquid water, as well as energy sources and a supply of carbon, are necessary for all known forms of life.

"On Earth, microorganisms thrive 2 to 3 kilometers (about 1.2 to 1.9 miles) beneath the Witwatersrand basin of South Africa, where natural radioactivity splits water molecules into molecular hydrogen (H2) and oxygen. The organisms use the hydrogen for energy. It might be possible for similar organisms to survive for billions of years below the permafrost layer on Mars, where water is liquid, radiation supplies energy, and carbon dioxide provides carbon," said Mumma.

"Gases, like methane, accumulated in such underground zones might be released into the atmosphere if pores or fissures open during the warm seasons, connecting the deep zones to the atmosphere at crater walls or canyons," said Mumma.

"Microbes that produced methane from hydrogen and carbon dioxide were one of the earliest forms of life on Earth," noted Dr. Carl Pilcher, Director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute which partially supported the research. "If life ever existed on Mars, it's reasonable to think that its metabolism might have involved making methane from Martian atmospheric carbon dioxide."

However, it is possible a geologic process produced the Martian methane, either now or eons ago. On Earth, the conversion of iron oxide (rust) into the serpentine group of minerals creates methane, and on Mars this process could proceed using water, carbon dioxide, and the planet's internal heat. Although we don’t have evidence on Mars of active volcanoes today, ancient methane trapped in ice "cages" called clathrates might now be released.

The team found methane in the atmosphere of Mars by carefully observing the planet over several Mars years (and all Martian seasons) with NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility, run by the University of Hawaii, and the W. M. Keck telescope, both at Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

The team used spectrometer instruments attached to the telescopes to make the detection. Spectrometers spread light into its component colors, like a prism separates white light into a rainbow. The team looked for dark areas in specific places along the rainbow (light spectrum) where methane was absorbing sunlight reflected from the Martian surface. They found three such areas, called absorption lines, which together are a definitive signature of methane, according to the team. They were able to distinguish lines from Martian methane from the methane in Earth's atmosphere because the motion of the Red Planet shifted the position of the Martian lines, much as a speeding ambulance causes its siren to change pitch as it passes by.

"We observed and mapped multiple plumes of methane on Mars, one of which released about 19,000 metric tons of methane," said Dr. Geronimo Villanueva of the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. Villanueva is stationed at NASA Goddard and is co-author of the paper. "The plumes were emitted during the warmer seasons -- spring and summer -- perhaps because the permafrost blocking cracks and fissures vaporized, allowing methane to seep into the Martian air. Curiously, some plumes had water vapor while others did not," said Villanueva.

According to the team, the plumes were seen over areas that show evidence of ancient ground ice or flowing water. For example, plumes appeared over northern hemisphere regions such as east of Arabia Terra, the Nili Fossae region, and the south-east quadrant of Syrtis Major, an ancient volcano 1,200 kilometers (about 745 miles) across.

It will take future missions, like NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, to discover the origin of the Martian methane. One way to tell if life is the source of the gas is by measuring isotope ratios. Isotopes are heavier versions of an element; for example, deuterium is a heavier version of hydrogen. In molecules that contain hydrogen, like water and methane, the rare deuterium occasionally replaces a hydrogen atom. Since life prefers to use the lighter isotopes, if the methane has less deuterium than the water released with it on Mars, it's a sign that life is producing the methane. The research was funded by NASA's Planetary Astronomy Program and the NASA Astrobiology Institute.

[Letum]

So it seams that the radiation-warmed depths of the Martian soil is the womb for life that has never seen the Earth.
I am not surprised and I doubt many will be. I for one welcome our new Martian overlords.

[UnderseaLcpl]

...but even in the most devestating viral plagues, there are plenty of survivors.

Well I certaqinly hope you are right. I never heard of someone being immune to something like Ebola though...

Judging from empyrical evidence, I am right. Or rather, I copied someone else who I think was probably right. And yes, there are people who are immune to ebola, and HIV, and other diseases.

The catch is that we have advantages now. We have an unfair advantage in the evolutionary race against viruses. Sanitation, medication, and quarantine have all played important roles. Hence, humanity's exponential growth since the industrial age. But the reason we ever made it this far is because recombining our DNA thwarted the machinations of the virus, most of the time.

[FIREWALL]

I'm still waiting for them to discover signs of intelligent life on Earth.
aye, me too

What makes you two think your a pair of Einsteins ? :p :rotfl:

[Letum]

I'm still waiting for them to discover signs of intelligent life on Earth. aye, me too
What makes you two think your a pair of Einsteins ? :p :rotfl:

Because great minds think alike? ;)

[TLAM Strike]

I hope they find something that differs from the life we see on Earth, something that takes everything we know about how living stuff works and turns it upside-down. :yep:

Sure, as long as they keep it isolated from our environment. I doubt there'd be much natural immunity in man, beast or plant against space bugs so if they get loose on Earth it could be catastrophic.

Thats assuming that any Martian microbes are biologicly compatable with Earth life forms. If they are not being exposed to such microbes wouln't harm you since they wouldn't be able to survive in the envorment of your body.

Since we have no experince with Alien life forms its really a toss up. Could be the plague could be nothing. :hmm:

[Fish]

AFAIK, what's the plan with anything they find. :up:

Well, first they told me, there gone be a large BBQ.;)