Comments on: Salt Deposits on Mars Might Be the Right Place to Search for Life

By: alphonso richardson

alphonso richardson — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:18:39 +0000

Re Susan
If you beleive what's going on with pollution & Global Warming, the answer would be ,'sadly, no'.

By: Susan

Susan — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 12:49:23 +0000

Some scientists believe that approximately 3.5 billion years ago, conditions on Mars and Earth were somewhat similar. Earth was undergoing tectonic changes on a course to establishing the biosphere that we all enjoy today. At about the same time, conditions on Mars were deteriorating; the atmosphere was thinning, water would soon (in a geological sense) be gone. So it is not entirely surprising to find parallels between these two worlds. The real question is this: can we save Earth's biosphere before Mars and Earth resemble each other again?

By: Alejandro

Alejandro — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 02:33:52 +0000

I enjoy all discoverys and the news and I just can say everything it's amazing

By: Johnny Blues

Johnny Blues — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:20:48 +0000

What scares me is people who can actually see a fantastic Hubble photo of a nebula with no reaction.

By: alan

alan — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 07:57:29 +0000

I'm no geologist, but wouldn't salt deposits on the surface be either covered by dust or sandblasted away in 3 billion years? And if the deposit are thick, then wouldn't that say there was a lot of water holding a lot of salt to creat a thick layer? Just wondering.

By: Fraser Cain

Fraser Cain — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:22:34 +0000

Really? If I had an envelope, containing the answer to the question – was there life on Mars 3 billion years ago? – wouldn't you want to open it? Wouldn't you want to just take a little peek and know the answer for sure?

Science is often about pure curiosity. Is Earth the only place in the Universe with life? That's a pretty important question.

By: tacitus

tacitus — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 23:38:35 +0000

Sadly, probably not.

By: Darious

Darious — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 23:37:36 +0000

Likewise.If past life is found so easily on mars or a nearby moon,Id believe that life as a whole in the universe would be abundant.And knowing this,perhapse our worlds people would be more willing to get over the huddle of segrigation and war.

By: David

David — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 22:42:26 +0000

LLDiaz wrote "In the end what benefits can we hope to obtain by knowing that there was life on mars 3 billion years ago."

It helps us understand our place in the universe – is life unique? is life merely unusual? is life common? I would find it a thrill of the highest magnitude.

By: Jerry Thornton

Jerry Thornton — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 22:13:37 +0000

The benefit of this knowledge of non-Earth life would be, at the simplest level, the thrill of knowing that if life existed on Mars, might it not exist on Titan in a primal way, or even around other stars in various stages of advancement. This, in itself, is enough to send a frisson of giddy excitement up one's spine.

By: tacitus

tacitus — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 22:06:43 +0000

It is profoundly important to the nature and abundance of life in this galaxy. We currently only have a sample of one–life on Earth–and nothing to compare it with. The discovery of life on Mars, even long extinct life on Mars could hold extremely important concerning the origins of life here on Earth. (There's a chance we might even be related).

Sure, it's not going to benefit us in our day-to-day lives in any material way, but then neither does about 99% of the entertainment industry, and we spend far more money on that!

But long term, who knows what ramifications such a discovery could have? It could well get us to Mars quicker to investigate.

By: LLDIAZ

LLDIAZ — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:32:41 +0000

In the end what benefits can we hope to obtain by knowing that there was life on mars 3 billion years ago.