Scientists believe they may have found proof of life on Mars......
 

This is all kinds of awesome. I never thought they'd get to this point so quickly........

Methane discovery suggests presence of life on Mars, say Nasa scientists | World News | News.com.au

maybe they'll come bail earth out.

Very, very cool...

they'll have to evolve first.

I hope they like Starbucks. The universe needs more Starbucks built.

Kodos: "Tell me something I don't already know."

Nice.

In all seriousness, the finding of microbes on Mars could be very important.

***Advocates of Global Warming, stop here***

There are some scientists that believe that we could be entering the early stages of a small Ice Age in the next 20-30 years. If there are microbes on Mars, studying them to determine how they survive in such a cold climate would be beneficial to those of us on Earth.

underground Martian cows??

in all serious though, like MBBF says - this is basically fucking awesome

there are some scientists who believe the earth is warming.

You obviously missed the warning label in my post intended for you. :D

Let's just prepare both so we're ready either way.

i didnt claim either side of the argument.

It all makes sense now.

Scientists discover life on Mars

Adolph Hitler taken away by the government

Only a matter of time till we blitz the red planet.

Well, we do need more markets to help our economy ;)

SI

How did they know?

You have a lucrative career available as a devil's advocate.

Who advocates global warming? ...other than maybe crocodiles or snakes

Good point. 'Advocates of global warming theories' would have probably been a better qualification. I was trying to avoid partisan conflict in the thread, but I'm quickly realizing that those efforts are futile on this board.

:rolleyes:

no one is bickering with you

qft

signed,
magilla gorilla

dating myself, I had to wiki Magilla Gorilla....and I dont know what that picture means. :shrug:

You see the effect of global warming now?

yes, and Ive gone home and uncovered the plants since, fuck it, if they cant make it through this little freeze theyre certainly not going to make it through the mini-ice age coming.

Dude, I watched Magilla Gorilla as a kid, and I know we're around the same age. Of course, it seems like all AFN showed was lame-ass Hannah-Barbera cartoons...

Oh, and the sign is showing Don Quixote.

nope. no Gorilla for me, when I was younger the only thing I really remember watching was Carson if I stayed up late or Saturday morning watching Ric Flair, Harley Race, and the Von Erich's, FROM THE SPORTATORIUM!

That picture's hilarious. Nice work.

OK, this is my beef with this stuff. OK, we know that methane is a byproduct of life HERE. But we're making assumptions that all life is carbon based, and I'm not sure that we should base everything on that.

Methane can form through a variety of processes. Also, how do we know that the methane found in the martian atmosphere is not protected somehow, or is being formed through some other process.

This report to me smacks of, "Hey, we found something cool. We can say this is due to life there, and we can get more funding for additional research."

Scientists are going down a perilous path right now. They are making claims that cannot be fully substantiated, and I think if one of these big claims that have been used to modify personal behaviors is going to have a major backlash. Finding life on other planets would have a big effect on world religions, for one example. Man-made global warming and the fight against it would have a huge impact on the standard of life (mostly going downhill). Unfortunately, unscrupulous scientists are using models and speculation rather than hard fact to get funding and they are going to be burned. What they are doing is akin to what happened in the financial sector meltdown not too long ago. What happens to their credibility when global warming goes the way of the dodo in the next decade?

Sorry for the rant, but I fear for the scientific community.

Which is why the upcoming rovers will focus on the questions you raise to determine if microbes are farting or if there's another cause we're not aware of right now.

I seem to remember one of the "early" cable stations like USA also showed a lot of Hannah-Barbara cartoons in the 80s. That's where I saw them all.

SI

I remember watching Magilla Gorilla as a kid too.

Grape Ape, grape ape!

Wiki "Don Quixote".

I have no problem with sending another rover, there are a multitude of reasons to send more. My problem is with the whole "life on Mars" argument. It is similar to the war in Iraq, we had a ton of reasons to go in, why stake everything on the WMD argument? We're staking the whole reason for going to Mars to investigate this plume to determine if there is life there, rather than figuring out what is causing it for the sake of learning more about Mars. It is subtle, but an important difference.

Is that Magilla Gorilla? I thought that purple thing's name was Grape Ape!

Heh, when that picture was posted I took it to mean "get off your high horse" instead of a Don Quixote reference.

Don't listen to him.

What, the windmill in the background didn't give it away?