Thread: Almost proof of life elsewhere

On Earth, 90 per cent of the methane produced is released by living organisms far beneath the soil.

Three large telescopes based in Hawaii revealed that the colours absorbed by gas in Mars' northern hemisphere during the planet's summer match those absorbed by methane on Earth.

'One of the plumes released about 19,000 metric tons of methane,' Professor Mumma said.

'We only have methane on the Earth because it is pumped into the air by life forms, or because it comes out of volcanoes. The only way to prove it is produced by life on Mars is to go and have a look.'

No active volcanoes have ever been spotted on the Red Planet.

The methane levels peak during the warmer summer months, providing the strongest hint yet that alien microbes could be thriving deep below the red, dusty surface.



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...ars-lives.html


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Yeah "life on Mars" was pretty foolish of us. The question should be "life in Mars."

Bacterial life is thought to exist in the upper clouds of Venus. There is a general belief / hope that life will exist below the surface of a number of Jupiter and Saturn's moons. The ingredients for life (long chained DNA molecules, tholins, water) have been seen in other star systems and planets look to be common.

"It told us that Mars is not the same everywhere, as people were suggesting," says Smith. "If the soil was acidic and salty everywhere, you would have trouble imagining life even getting started in a place like that, but we found conditions much like those you see in the Earth's oceans, and for those of us looking for habitable zones on Mars, that's good news."

As the Earth orbits the sun, it leans over on its axis at an almost constant 23.5 degrees, and in doing so underpins the regularity of our seasons. Today, Mars is leaning over at around 25 degrees, but five million years ago, that could have been 40 or even 50 degrees. By showing more of its polar caps to the sun, the Martian ice will have warmed up and vaporised. The atmosphere would have become thick with ice clouds that later released snow, which fell to the ground and made the ground damp. That, at least, is the leading theory.

"We have nutrients in the soil, energy sources, and if there was liquid water five millions years ago, we're getting close to an environment where life could live," says Smith. "If you tossed some Earthly life up there that hadn't evolved for the climate, then it probably couldn't survive. But you have to wonder if, over a long period of time - say a billion years - if Mars slowly transformed itself from a more benign place to what we see today, whether little creatures could have evolved and maybe learned to survive. Life does amazing things on Earth. You can unfreeze the permafrost in Siberia and bring things back to life that have been encased in ice for a million years, so who knows?"


http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/20...echnology-nasa

Do we know enough about the origin of life to integrate this into the assessment? After all if life can only arrise in thermal vents (let's say) then life could not have developed on Mars. So that's my question about this.

Originally Posted by Golkarian

on Mars

Stop saying "on". :x :wink: Do you think there are worms on Australia?

I once saw a documentary about life on other planets. It is very possible, but not life as we know it. The question is when we are talking about aliens do we always have to talk about human-like shaped super intelligent creatures?
Because if we are talking about life in general (micro-organisms, bacteria, or even organisms not known to humans that survive in different climates (depending on the planet) then yes they exist for sure.

Originally Posted by ScienceJunkie

on

AAAAAaaaahhhhhhhhhhrrgh!!!!

Seriously, couldn't we try? Say "of" or "at" ? Do we say fauna of Australia or fauna on Australia? It's not hard to be consistent and open-minded.

Guess what, there is actually Life on Mars. Do you want a second opinion?