Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Freeze-dried mats of microbes awaken in Antarctic streambed

"An experiment in a dry Antarctic stream channel has shown that a carpet of freeze-dried microbes that lay dormant for two decades sprang to life one day after water was diverted into it, said a University of Colorado at Boulder researcher.

"The results showed the resilience of life in the harsh polar environment, where temperatures are below freezing for most of the year and glacial melt water flows for only five to 12 weeks annually, said Professor Diane McKnight of CU-Boulder's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. Such research on life in extreme environments is of high interest to astrobiologists, who consider Antarctica's McMurdo Dry Valleys an analogue for Mars because of its inhospitable climate and intermittent water flow."





The Spirit Mars rover's landing ensemble inadvertently uncovered a similar organic-looking "mat" when it retracted its airbags. JPL, of course, made a point to drive right past -- unfortunately typical behavior for the ongoing "search for life" on Mars.

11 comments:

Mac said...

One Mars project team member actually publicly bemoaned not stopping to take a better look at the "Magic Carpet," as the Martian mat had been dubbed. So it's not just "believers" with the sentiments expressed here.

Mac said...

Running over the famous "bunny ears" instead of at least verifying that they were material from the lander. (If, indeed, that is what they were.)

Ultimately, JPL proved to my personal satisfaction that the "ears" were indeed a bit of airbag fabric, but not until after implying that anyone interested in figuring them out was whacko.

The NY Times went on to post a *full-page* "humor" piece claiming that those interested in the "bunny ears" *actually thought there was a rabbit on Mars*.

When it comes to space, you're just supposed to shut your mouth and politely refrain from asking questions, even if they're logical and prudent. What other endeavor is tainted with this BS?

Mac said...

Free virus downloads is probably more like it.

You got that right.

Gerald T said...

Free virus down loads Mac?
Sign me up, what a deal for us!
My latest;

http://marsrelaystation.blogspot.com/

post is a killer, a reprint of my news letter that I sent Mac and others last year, the rover was so far past the machines when it took the next series of photos, that we only got the one shot of perhaps the biggest machine like artifact Spirit has seen, and the large black bulbils thing on the left side with the tentacles coming out!
Ohhhh for just one more photo,,,groooannnnn.

Ken said...

"What is amazing to me is the lack of curiousity. If I am walking down the street, and I see something interesting, I stop and look. It is human nature. It seems like the rovers only look at things that they mission people already understand."

My theory: Due to limited funds, geological interests are made primary and these are protected by departmental policy. The scientists at JPL/NASA can either cooperate with this policy or say bye-bye.

Carol Maltby said...

Mac, what convinced you about the Bunny?

I've seen my husband's bear-proof sacks he has for camping (including one with a design flaw that a bear ripped into) and as far as I know they are pretty much the same as that used for the airbags.

I don't see that fabric turning into little shards that look like Piglet's balloon that broke before he could give it to Eeyore.

Ken said...

"Sorry, pal: intent is the explanation, IMO, not dough."

I think that, ultimately, it does come down to money. Everything's about money these days.

Mac said...

Mac, what convinced you about the Bunny?

A spectroscopic survey that (fortunately, although almost certainly not by design) included the "bunny." Its signature was consistent with airbag material -- although, technically, this doesn't *prove* the "bunny" was a scrap of spacecraft debris.

Mac said...

I suspect the Brookings Report was essentially like the Condon Committee -- a government puppet to mouth a foregone conclusion.

Ken said...

"OK, ken. Want to know my personal conspiracy theory, what I think is the real reason behind NASA's willful ignoring of signs of current life and previous intelligence on Mars? Here goes."

I agree that the government has secret protocols, but I just don't think the "Brookings Protocol" is one of them. The notion that NASA is deliberately hiding the knowledge of ET life (which they have had in their possession all these years) strikes me as far-fetched and a little fantastic. It seems more realistic and down to earth to propose that their problem indeed lies in mere human nature and bureaucratic obtuseness. When we don't know exactly what's going on behind the scenes it's easy for our imaginations to begin running amok about what our government *could* be up to without our knowledge. IMO the most likely explanation is also the most mundane.

"that this accounts for their willful turning away from and programmatic "debunking" of any evidence that seems to suggest this."

The folks at JPL/NASA want to be and to appear professional. I think it must be relatively easy for them to fall into "debunking" mode, especially when persons like Hoagland incessantly vociferate on all sorts of wild and (all too often) unjustified "proofs". I detect a touch of irritation in the way JPL/NASA dismisses the so-called evidence. Not that there isn't any genuine evidence, but that NASA has made a hasty generalization regarding advocates of artificiality by assuming they are all just like Hoagland (more or less).

"All that would have been needed was a closeup photo plus deliberate spectral analysis, as Mac suggested. (And in any case, why make a point of --on the sly -- running over it!) You could also justify (it seems to me) at least taking a quick closeup look at, say, rocks with what are apparently perfectly rectangular slots in them."

I suspect that JPL/NASA had carefully drawn up a detailed agenda of exactly what they wanted to accomplish on each day of the rover mission. They had a certain amount of data they wanted to collect from definite locations, and the minutes and hours were spent in doing just that. They religiously stuck to their agenda because it provided direction and structure to their research; absorbed in their project (as scientists often become), they gave no mind to whimsical curiosities. The fact that they had run over the "bunny ears" probably didn't even enter their consciousness (until much later), so caught up were they in what had their complete attention.

"every NASA mission to Mars does have a hidden agenda and a secret component."

Could very well be -- but this hidden agenda might not be quite so outlandish as concealing evidence of ET. That happens in movies and Sci-Fi novels, but real life isn't nearly as interesting.

Ken said...

WMB--
I still think that the "disinformation" given by NASA is a matter of our (mistaken)interpretation. I don't think that they're deliberately hiding anything -- and if they are, I very much doubt it's evidence for ET. That goes for the Roswell incident too (In fact, I think the whole Roswell thing has been blown all out of proportion by people who initially jumped to conclusions and then got carried away with their progressively wild conjectures. The "flying saucer" may not have been a weather balloon as the government claims, but IMO it was probably just a top secret project or experiment gone awry. Sorry, but IMHO there were no alien crafts, no ET bodies, no adolescent girls with six fingers involved. After the UFO tale has fully developed and taken definite shape, people can even write intelligent books on the subject -- like "Body Snatchers in the Desert" -- and sound quite convincing).

ETs maybe operating the UFO's that we see -- but if they are truly ETs (and they may not be), I think the government is just as ignorant as we are about the nature of the phenomenon.

We will just have to agree to disagree on this one.