This changes everything!

FTA: Nasa scientists have produced the most compelling evidence yet that bacterial life exists existed on Mars.

/Fixy McFixerson.

Cool news. Great find, subby! Gives me a reason to look forward to Monday, for a change!

From the comments in TFA" Do they think the public is that STUPID and BACKWARDS that we can't handle the fact that we're not the only living beings in the universe? Does the government really have to keep playing this child's game? Let the darn cat out of the bag already. JEEZ. We're not alone in the universe. BIG DEAL! I am still going to take a dump every morning and then go to work.

Maybe so, but a lot of people are going to be taking their morning dump through very tightly clenched buttocks.

Bacterial life may still exist on Mars. It exists on Earth in much harsher climes.

This is pretty much a repeat from the last decade. A rock has funny shapes in it that could be anything or could be martian traces.

cretinbob: Bacterial life may still exist on Mars. It exists on Earth in much harsher climes.

Indeed. What I'm really excited about is the possibility that life started independently in both places, as opposed to only starting once and being transfered.

I'm dying to know if Martian DNA has a right-hand twist, if it's composed of the same four base pairs, and if codes for the same proteinogenic amino acids.

Tofu:

I'm dying to know if Martian DNA has a right-hand twist, if it's composed of the same four base pairs, and if codes for the same proteinogenic amino acids.


Absolutely! Wouldn't it be great to find that Martian life uses an entirely, or even partially different code? That would be the most amazing discovery in the history of.. well... ever.

I hope this is accurate. I get silly giddy about stuff like this for some reason. Probably because it's kind of a scientific holy grail.

Tofu: cretinbob: Bacterial life may still exist on Mars. It exists on Earth in much harsher climes.

Indeed. What I'm really excited about is the possibility that life started independently in both places, as opposed to only starting once and being transfered.

I'm dying to know if Martian DNA has a right-hand twist, if it's composed of the same four base pairs, and if codes for the same proteinogenic amino acids.

M guess is no. The choice of nucleotides was probably just a random coincidence. Interestingly, this would mean that Martians would be no good for us to eat (and vice-versa) because they wouldn't provide the amino acids that we need.

Crackin'.

/hot like lancashire hotpot

Oh great. Now I have the Indiana Jones theme stuck in my head.

Photographic evidence:




/going old-school, not Waters of Mars
//although they were referenced

revrendjim: The choice of nucleotides was probably just a random coincidence.

then why, in the multi-billion year history of Earth, hasn't one single life form evolved to use an additional two?

But more interesting than the deal with nucleotides, are the amino acids. There are more possible amino acids than there are atoms in the universe, yet all life on Earth uses only 22. Furthermore, many amino acids have mirror images, but life doesn't make use of those.

I really don't know if it's random chance or if there's some fundamental mechanical reason for this. On the other hand, I suspect the direction of DNA's twist is random chance.

FloydA: Wouldn't it be great to find that Martian life uses an entirely, or even partially different code? That would be the most amazing discovery in the history of.. well... ever.

Yeah, just think, if two different systems arose in a single solar system, there must be thousands of possible systems out there. My money is on the martian life being very similar to us - and even that answer is really profound.

Tofu: then why, in the multi-billion year history of Earth, hasn't one single life form evolved to use an additional two?

I think it's because because once life took hold the game changed. Any other large organic molecule that happened to form would end up being eaten.

Mars is older than the earth, so if it turns out martian life has the same building blocks as us, couldn't we have descended from them as an alternative hypothesis?

Muhahahaha, great fark headline. I give it two dicks up.

This means something.

I can grok that.

now..just to exploit it

/America - F yea!

But they can't get fingerprints off of leather in the 70s!

If that life presents a cure for cancer, two birds with one stone.

/approves

David Bowie is going to be so excited to hear this.

/still cool though.

But, are Mars bacteria alive?

Do they know God? Guess not. Maybe they are not alive. Francis Collins you must have something to say.

Unimpressed.

So a meteor hit mars and broke off a piece that entered an orbit for 16 million years and then hit earth where scientists picked it up and discovered life?

Hmmm, red herring alert. What's really going on at NASA these days?

Am I the only one who still thinks they are jumping the gun on this?

Given the nature of the evidence (chunk of Mars from an ancient impact that managed to make its way to Earth), shouldn't "life" be the hypothesis of last resort? That is, until they find other evidence, shouldn't they need to rule out every other possible physical process before even tentatively concluding "life"?

I think they are jumping the gun. There is plenty we don't know about rock metamorphosis from impacts on ejecta, metamorphosis on ejecta traveling through space, and metamorphosis due to re-entry into an atmosphere. As much as I want there to be extra-terrestrial life, even in the form of bacteria, on our nearest neighbor, I will remain skeptical about these finds until they come up with separate, corroborating evidence.

And I really do think the possibility of separately evolved life is extremely exciting. So many fundamental questions about biology and biochemistry could be answered, or at least have more light shed on them. Like many of those stated above.

Boxiao: Mars is older than the earth, so if it turns out martian life has the same building blocks as us, couldn't we have descended from them as an alternative hypothesis?


Perhaps I'm misunderstanding your meaning. As far as planet formation, Mars, Earth and all of the planets appear to be about the same age, as far as I know.

But yes, it could easily be that Earth was "seeded" from Mars, or even that Mars was seeded from Earth, or that both were seeded from somewhere else.

That's what would make the discovery of actual living Martian organisms so amazing. If they use a different genetic code than Earth life, that very strongly suggests that abiogenesis is relatively easier than we've suspected.

If they use the same code, it doesn't prove that one is the source of the other, of course, but it makes that hypothesis seem pretty reasonable. It also would suggest that maybe there aren't very many possible genetic codes, or that there is something about the structure of the code itself that makes "the way we do it" more stable than other possible ways to be alive.

Either way, it's a fascinating topic!

Didn't we figure out there was bacterial life on Mars awhile ago? Maybe i'm getting this confused with something else.

Here's NASA's two-step business plan:
1. Release misleading and headline grabbing announcement for a new fundraiser.
2. Waste money.

Mars Rocks!

FloydA: Boxiao: Mars is older than the earth, so if it turns out martian life has the same building blocks as us, couldn't we have descended from them as an alternative hypothesis?


Perhaps I'm misunderstanding your meaning. As far as planet formation, Mars, Earth and all of the planets appear to be about the same age, as far as I know.

But yes, it could easily be that Earth was "seeded" from Mars, or even that Mars was seeded from Earth, or that both were seeded from somewhere else.

That's what would make the discovery of actual living Martian organisms so amazing. If they use a different genetic code than Earth life, that very strongly suggests that abiogenesis is relatively easier than we've suspected.

If they use the same code, it doesn't prove that one is the source of the other, of course, but it makes that hypothesis seem pretty reasonable. It also would suggest that maybe there aren't very many possible genetic codes, or that there is something about the structure of the code itself that makes "the way we do it" more stable than other possible ways to be alive.

Either way, it's a fascinating topic!

All of this.

I just wish the data was from something a little less open to tainting than a rock that fell off and eventually landed here.

its a big deal to some because it may throw a wrench in the well oiled engine called religion.

I wasn't technically qualified enough to judge the argument between the competing scientific factions concerning the microscopic evidence hidden in the Martian meteorite fifteen years ago and I'm not technically qualified enough now to understand the latest arguments so just fricken show me video of some creature striding up to one of the Rovers, liftin' one of its three legs and pissin' smoking liquid ammonia right on the camera lens.

/now THAT'S discovering life on Mars.

/approves

Shoop'd. Pixels and all that.

revrendjim: Tofu: then why, in the multi-billion year history of Earth, hasn't one single life form evolved to use an additional two?

I think it's because because once life took hold the game changed. Any other large organic molecule that happened to form would end up being eaten.

I agree that it was eaten, so to speak. We are absolutely awash in life on the Earth, perhaps many different forms of life evolved at a very simple level at different times, but were simply out-competed (or crowded out) rather quickly by the lucky ones that already had a head start here. That doesn't mean that our building blocks are not due to chance, but that they developed earlier, and thus were able to develop a greater level of complexity in this location before some other system could gain a sufficient foothold on a nice piece of real estate like the Earth.

All that aside, with the sheer cumulative biomass that has existed here for the last billion years or so, it would be extremely fortuitous to find a unique example of life.

What kind? Heinlein, Burroughs, Bradbury, Wells, Niven, Moorcock, Samachson -- what flavor of Martian?

Ack Ack

revrendjim: Tofu: cretinbob: Bacterial life may still exist on Mars. It exists on Earth in much harsher climes.

Indeed. What I'm really excited about is the possibility that life started independently in both places, as opposed to only starting once and being transfered.

I'm dying to know if Martian DNA has a right-hand twist, if it's composed of the same four base pairs, and if codes for the same proteinogenic amino acids.

M guess is no. The choice of nucleotides was probably just a random coincidence. Interestingly, this would mean that Martians would be no good for us to eat (and vice-versa) because they wouldn't provide the amino acids that we need.

Well thank goodness for that.

Maybe we could use them for fish bait?

if there was any life on Mars it would be mentioned in the Bible...