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New Evidence For Life On Mars?

redorbit.com — A new study of a meteorite that originated from Mars has revealed a series of microscopic tunnels that are similar in size, shape and distribution to tracks left on Earth rocks by feeding bacteria.

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  • Software2, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5It's the digg "possible sign of alien life" story-o-the-week!
  • GreenSlabOfClay, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7What I find interesting is that we have probes on the planet and we can't find life.
    Yet a meteorite that found its way from an explosion and millions of miles of space travel, survives the fall into our gravity well and shows some "possible" signs of life?

    Go figure.
    • joe0891, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6You only can fit so much technology on a rover, and it only works so well being that far away with current limitations. :P
    • Brian.Honaker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Not to mention that those orvers have geological tools on them, nothing more.
    • silly, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0and the fact that no one is saying life exists now, but life may have existed billions of years ago in the form of simple bacteria, which is pretty hard to detect with the rovers because the evidence of such life is basically non existent
  • PandoraLives, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1probably something to do with the time they can get a probe on the planet it breaks down, got to love the technology tht wants company to work.
    Machines are people too. Reminds me of techno gremlins, wonder if that is here *goes looking*
  • onehalf, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4is this a new study of ALH84001? (already studied in 96: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALH84001 ) Or of MIL 03346? (studied in 04: http://www1.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2004/jul/HQ_04232_meteorite.html ) Or some other metiorite?

    It just looks like a vague recap of some sort, without any new data.

    No digg.
    • Castaa, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Seriously. Isn't this the same thing they found in 1996? What is new about it?

      Maybe their date field is only 1 digit and 1996 == 2006. =)
    • DWatch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You took the time and energy to find the links for those two meteorites, yet didn't even bother to read the freakin' article? LOL. I would paste the entire article here, but you will probably be too lazy to read that, as well. Ok, here is the quick and dirty answer... from TFA:

      "These rocks were "blasted off" the planet when Mars was struck by asteroids or comets and eventually these Martian meteorites crossed Earth's orbit and plummeted to the ground. One of these is Nakhla, which landed in Egypt in 1911, and provided the source material for Fisk's study. Scientists have dated the igneous rock fragment from Nakhla -- which weighs about 20 pounds -- at 1.3 billion years in age."
    • ctech2k, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I didn't see this on NASA's "breaking news" page...that makes me suspect that this is rehashed old news. I wonder how cold fusion is doing lately....
  • molecool, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6I'm really sick of this kind of ***** - poking around in some damn rocks that might or might not have come from Mars. Let's put together a decent spacecraft and frakkin' go there! It's 2006 for crying out loud and the boring ***** NASA has been doing in the last three decades is boring everyone to tears. Sorry, guys - had to let off some steam - feeling better now...
    • Slimer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1FINE DO IT. tell me how it's feasible. and why i should devote my time and energy to it. i will, if you motivate me
  • blankoboy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I find it hard to believe that a planet the size of Mars would have 0% life on it. I imagine there is life below the surface that we are not able to see. Perhaps thriving life that is simply not detectable from the surface.

    The surface is by all means inhospitable but this could simply be the outer door. We really need to 'digg' below the surface and do some excavations. It would be really cool if we discovered fossils (!) below the surface. That would blow some minds. We need to work on our scanning technology.

    Also, think about the trillion-trillions of dollars wasted globally on military spending to kill humans that could be spent on technology to explore space and other planets (not to mention medical research!). For all our technological toys, we are still such a primitive species.

    If we were to atleast take half of what we waste (globally) on military spending and invest it into space technology we'd be flying in our space ships in our life time.

    /sigh.....
  • magebomb11, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3These tunnels contained no DNA, unlike the tunnels in earthrocks.
    • Ignignokt01, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Maybe thats because alien life may not contain DNA at all?
    • DWatch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Or, could it be the bazillion degrees the rock would endure when it hit our atmosphere might have burned off any organic compounds? Or possibly it burned off any elements that were not able to withstand the heat, and the voids of those burned off elements is whats causing the tunnels? I think we need more research!
    • capn_caveman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Or perhaps DNA is not stable over the length of time that this was blasted off of Mars and landed on Earth.
  • mfearby, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3I'm not even going to RTFA because I'm sick to death of hearing about "possible new evidence for life on Mars". When it is definitively *proven* then I'll consider that newsworthy. I *don't* want to hear about the latest interpretation of the same old data which always ends up just being yet another maybe. Shove off with the maybes until you have something concrete!
  • Connor77, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Anyone ever read the book "deception point" by dan brown..
    Im thinking this article, and the book are one in the same.
  • jofer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2For those interested, here's the link to the journal article... Or well... The abstract, anyway... If anyone happens to be at a univ. with an online subscription, feel free to send a copy my way!

    http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ast.2006.6.48

    For what it's worth, it's not at all related to the Allen Hills meteorite, as it says in TFA. (Or the other one mentioned earlier in the comments, found in Antarctica) This is rather interesting, imo. As far as the lack of DNA goes, would one really expect it to survive millions of years and the heat of entry into the Earth's atmosphere?
  • timmarhy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5i digg it just to piss off the fundies.
  • tedc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I'll digg it,even if we're not sure the Martians dugg it.
  • leetcharmer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Even if there is life on mars, if we decide to start moving there, I DEMAND EVERYONE BE SANITIZED!!! I don't want Europeans bringing over ants like they did to here in america *shakes fist in air*
  • Tommstein, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Good thing we don't have bacteria on earth, and this thing landed in a clean room just waiting for us to pick it up.
  • Nessus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1David Bowie surrenders.
  • dandiemer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i was hoping this was gonna be a picture of a starbucks on mars. =(
  • volz0r, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I can't figure out why these types of stories are re-posted. This is what they were
    studying the FIRST time on the rock from Mars. First they said it could possibly be
    fossilized bacteria, then they said it looked as if it was trails of bacteria feeding paths.
    No digg for yet another VERY old story.
  • fuseideas, on 06/02/2008, -0/+1They just found new evidence of life on Mars:
    http://digg.com/space/Has_NASA_s_Phoenix_Lander_Fo ...
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