Hmmm! I thought Norman Pace a comedian famous for microwaving a cat? Brits, help me out. It'll be on Youtube somewhere. It's all very amusing (the life on Mars thing, not the stuff to do with cats)
--- "Sterling K. Webb" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi, All, > > Not everybody likes this idea... This headline > on another > report on the same paper reads: Claims of Martian > Life Called 'Bogus'! > http://www.space.com/news/070823_mars_life.html > > Everybody calm down. Let's just go there and > find out. > > > Sterling K. Webb > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Mike Groetz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "Meteorite List" > <meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com> > Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2007 7:11 PM > Subject: [meteorite-list] Study: Martian soil may > contain life > > > http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/08/23/mars.soil.life.reut/index.html > > Study: Martian soil may contain life > Story Highlights > Signs of weird life on Martian surface, scientist > suggests > > Mars may contain microbes made of hydrogen peroxide > and water > > Data studied was originally collected in 1976 by > Viking landers > > LONDON, England (Reuters) -- The soil on Mars may > contain microbial life, according to a new > interpretation of data first collected more than 30 > years ago. > > The search for life on Mars appeared to hit a dead > end > in 1976 when Viking landers touched down on the red > planet and failed to detect biological activity. > > But Joop Houtkooper of the University of Giessen, > Germany, said on Friday the spacecraft may in fact > have found signs of a weird life form based on > hydrogen peroxide on the subfreezing, arid Martian > surface. > > His analysis of one of the experiments carried out > by > the Viking spacecraft suggests that 0.1 percent of > the > Martian soil could be of biological origin. > > That is roughly comparable to biomass levels found > in > some Antarctic permafrost, home to a range of hardy > bacteria and lichen. > > "It is interesting because one part per thousand is > not a small amount," Houtkooper said in a telephone > interview. > > "We will have to find confirmatory evidence and see > what kind of microbes these are and whether they are > related to terrestrial microbes. It is a possibility > that life has been transported from Earth to Mars or > vice versa a long time ago." > > Speculation about such interplanetary seeding was > fueled a decade ago when researchers said an ancient > meteorite found in Antarctica contained evidence of > fossil life on Mars. Doubt has since been cast on > that > finding. > > Houtkooper is presenting his research to the > European > Planetary Science Congress in Potsdam, Germany. > > While most scientists think our next-door neighbor > in > the solar system is lifeless, the discovery of > microbes on Earth that can exist in environments > previously thought too hostile has fueled debate > over > extraterrestrial life. > > Houtkooper believes Mars could be home to just such > "extremophiles" -- in this case, microbes whose > cells > are filled with a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and > water, providing them with natural anti-freeze. > > They would be quite capable of surviving a harsh > Martian climate where temperatures rarely rise above > freezing and can fall to minus 150 degrees Celsius. > > Houtkooper believes their presence would account for > unexplained rises in oxygen and carbon dioxide when > NASA's Viking landers incubated Martian soil. He > bases > his calculation of the biomass of Martian soil on > the > assumption that these gases were produced during the > breakdown of organic material. > > Scientists hope to gather further evidence on > whether > or not Mars ever supported life when NASA's > next-generation robotic spacecraft, the Phoenix Mars > Lander, reaches the planet in May 2008 and probes > the > soil near its northern pole. > > > > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________Ready > > for the edge of your seat? > Check out tonight's top picks on Yahoo! TV. > http://tv.yahoo.com/ > ______________________________________________ > Meteorite-list mailing list > Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list > > > ______________________________________________ > Meteorite-list mailing list > Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list > ____________________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! oneSearch: Finally, mobile search that gives answers, not web links. http://mobile.yahoo.com/mobileweb/onesearch?refer=1ONXIC ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
