Life On Mars?

[naomi24]

A group of academics say they have identified fossilised sponges, corals, worm eggs, algae and more on the surface of Mars, and say life there may even be thriving today.

“We have photos of fungi growing out of the ground, increasing in size, increasing in number, as based on sequential images,” said Dr Rudolph Schild of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, speaking on behalf of the researchers.

Finding life somewhere other than Earth would have major implications for humanity, proving for the first time that we are not alone in the universe. And if life is present so close to home, it opens fascinating questions as to what life might be like further afield.

“Definitive proof would tell us we are not alone,” added Dr Schild. “We could assume that life has evolved on innumerable Earth-like planets.

“This then raises questions about the antiquity of life. There are planets and Solar Systems that are billions of years older than our own. What if human-like life evolved on those planets billions of years ago? The implications are staggering and humbling.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/03/04/millipede-scientists-believe-proves-life-mars/

Exciting stuff? I think so. What say you?

[webbo3]

The chances of anything coming from Mars is a million to one they said.

[nicebloke1]

What say me? Not at all interested. My only interest is here.

[rowanwitch]

I am sure there must be life forms out there that would view us as too primitive to bother with, hopefully they don't come visiting.

[douglas9401]

It could explain where all the fun guys from Answerbank went.

[Old_Geezer]

We believe Mars had water at one time so the story is possible; but one can't figure out, if true, why it is breaking only now and not before. It's not like a new mission reached there recently as far as I know. Has this been accepted by the scientific community ? Are they sure it's not natural mineral formations they've found ?

[Old_Geezer]

Is this the same story ?

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/life-on-mars-78138144/

[New Judge]

//The chances of anything coming from Mars is a million to one they said.//

But still they come!

Don't go down to Horsell Common!

[naomi24]

OG, no, that isn’t the same story. That’s from 2005 and is talking about microbes. This one is current.

[Old_Geezer]

Pity, because the Telegraph link wants you to have a trial in order to read it.

[naomi24]

OG, That’s why I tried to include much of the information in the OP. I don’t know if any other newspaper is carrying the story.

[webbo3]

newjudge @14:12

:-)

[Atheist]

Naomi; I've got a feeling that this is old 'news'. I can find nothing recent about the issue. If it was really a new revelation I think it would have got around a bit. I didn't read the whole article. There's been noise about possible traces of former Martian life for many years, some of it connected with analysis of meteorite material. Is this story based on current martian survey material being seen/collected on Mars?

[THECORBYLOON]

I ignored the trial offer and was able to scroll through the article.

[Atheist]

How d'you do that, Corby?

[THECORBYLOON]

No idea but if you use this link, you can read the article.

https://archive.ph/Kkxty

[Atheist]

Thank you, Corby.

Life on Mars doesn't really imply life throughout the universe, since Earth and Mars are close enough to cross-contaminate. But in my view it is certainly encouraging for those who hope that we are not alone.

[Old_Geezer]

In any case, simple lifeforms are one thing; intelligent lifeforms will be much less common. From that viewpoint, being the only intelligent(ish) lifeform in the observable universe is not such a long shot. But time, hopefully, will tell.

[Atheist]

OG. Intelligent lifeforms may be much less common, but can have a huge impact on thier local environment. Humans are outnumbered by insects, bacteria etc, but we have a huge impact on the planet.
Life forms in the universe may be 99.9% 'low-life', but the tiny fraction which evolve intelligence are the ones we are most likely to meet.

[Old_Geezer]

IMO intelligent life is more likely to come and meet us, but as we move outwards viruses, bacteria, moulds, etc. are likely to be what we meet.

[THECORBYLOON]

Other lifeforms might consider humans to be relatively unintelligent.