Martian rock claimed to host life


	Martian rock claimed to host life

dopesick

8-28-2009 6:42 PM

99 views

tags:

extra-terrestrial life, mars, science

dopesick says:

It's not the first time something like this happens but as always, I'm putting my hopes up.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/6a2bb1c2-b95d-4872-a9be-cb4924354ec2/B2E8EE06-8174-47DD-A643-2B3445693A0A/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17712-balmy-water-once-bathed-mars-rock-claimed-to-host-life.html" href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17712-balmy-water-once-bathed-mars-rock-claimed-to-host-life.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.newscientist.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17712-balmy-water-once-bathed-mars-rock-claimed-to-host-life.html"><P class="infuse">A 1996 claim of fossilised microbes in a meteorite from Mars has yet to be confirmed, but a new analysis does suggest the rock's Martian environment had the conditions conducive to life.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17712-balmy-water-once-bathed-mars-rock-claimed-to-host-life.html"><P class="infuse">Researchers led by David McKay of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, caused a sensation 13 years ago when they <A target="ns" href="http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/273/5277/924">proposed</A> that a chunk of Mars rock found in Antarctica, called ALH 84001, contained possible <A href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15120430.200-did-martians-land-in-antarctica.html">signs of past life on the Red Planet</A>, including complex carbon-based molecules and some microscopic objects shaped like bacteria.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17712-balmy-water-once-bathed-mars-rock-claimed-to-host-life.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.newscientist.com/img/CA55496F-1670-41DF-8E9D-36A8A814A0B8" alt="In 1996, researchers suggested that microscopic rod-like structures in a Martian meteorite called ALH84001 were the fossilised remains of tiny bacteria. Although most researchers now doubt the claim, since the structures can be made inorganically, a new study suggests the rock was once bathed in water at the right temperature to support life as we know it (Image: NASA)" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17712-balmy-water-once-bathed-mars-rock-claimed-to-host-life.html"><P class="infuse">But the claim was never widely accepted. Other scientists <A href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15220610.200-death-knell-for-martian-life.html">countered</A> that the shapes were ambiguous and that the complex carbon-based molecules could have been produced without life, since they are also found in chunks of asteroids that fall to Earth as meteorites, for example.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17712-balmy-water-once-bathed-mars-rock-claimed-to-host-life.html">But a new analysis suggests the water involved was cool enough to allow for life, which at least keeps open the possibility of fossilised life in the meteorite.</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/B2E8EE06-8174-47DD-A643-2B3445693A0A/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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