Martian soil 'could support life'
 

Pretty cool discovery:

[url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7477310.stm]BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Martian soil 'could support life'[/url]

Re: Martian soil 'could support life'
 

Too bad the atmosphere won't. :D

I wouldn't want to live the rest of my life dressed like this:

[IMG]http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/3943/legomannu6.jpg[/IMG]

Re: Martian soil 'could support life'
 

[QUOTE=Buster;454448]Too bad the atmosphere won't. :D[/QUOTE]
Damn, beat me to it.

Good to know if Earthlings ever colonize Mars, that they won't have to do much to the soil...

I can imagine a SpongeBob type situation, where people live in bubbles, but instead of under the sea, they are on Mars...

Re: Martian soil 'could support life'
 

Ever notice on Spongebob that they live under water but are always spilling things or complaining about getting wet? Doesn't make much sense.

Re: Martian soil 'could support life'
 

[quote=Buster;454644]Ever notice on Spongebob that they live under water but are always spilling things or complaining about getting wet? Doesn't make much sense.[/quote]

A talking sponge doesn't make much sense either :)

Re: Martian soil 'could support life'
 

[quote=Buster;454644]Ever notice on Spongebob that they live under water but are always spilling things or complaining about getting wet? Doesn't make much sense.[/quote]
Why can't you spill stuff under water?

Re: Martian soil 'could support life'
 

[quote=Mattyk72;454648]A talking sponge doesn't make much sense either :)[/quote]

Makes about as much sense as trying to scratch your head against an oncoming roller coaster!

LOL

Re: Martian soil 'could support life'
 

[QUOTE=Schneed10;454663]Makes about as much sense as trying to scratch your head against an oncoming roller coaster!

LOL[/QUOTE]You're on a roll(er coaster). Just don't get all big headed on us.

Re: Martian soil 'could support life'
 

Shouldn't we assume that the proximity of Mars (and Venus for that matter) mean that it would be made of similar stuff to Earth? Wouldn't it be more surprising if it it were composed of completely different elements?
I mean we know Jupiter is in a different class. It doesn't really even have a solid surface, but the inner planets are all basically siblings, cosmologically speaking.

Re: Martian soil 'could support life'
 

[QUOTE=70Chip;454689]Shouldn't we assume that the proximity of Mars (and Venus for that matter) mean that it would be made of similar stuff to Earth? Wouldn't it be more surprising if it it were composed of completely different elements?
I mean we know Jupiter is in a different class. It doesn't really even have a solid surface, but the inner planets are all basically siblings, cosmologically speaking.[/QUOTE]

Just to add to that, it actually shouldn't be surprising that planets from a different galaxy have the same sort of elements since all matter in the universe originated from the same point -- Big Bang Theory.

That certainly isn't to say that there isn't stuff we haven't seen though.

Re: Martian soil 'could support life'
 

Future generations may discover that planets like Mars are as close as we will ever get to finding a planet, as inhospitable as it seems, upon which we can actually walk. In watching the Discovery series on NASA I was struck by the fact that all the Astonauts who went to Earths moon were overcome by just what an oasis Earth is when compared with the surface of that moon and space itself which is utterly lifeless. It's either a one in a (insert inconceivable number) fluke or else some entity(s) set about it willfully. People who expect to find carbon based lifeforms hanging out in this particular neighborhood are overly hopeful, IMO. If we are the result of random circumstances, then we may be the only ones or else the others are so far away that we may as well be alone.