The chance of life coming from Mars is less than a million to 1

[TimberWolf]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle6934078.ece

Nasa scientists have produced the most compelling evidence yet that bacterial life exists on Mars. It showed that microscopic worm-like structures found in a Martian meteorite that hit the Earth 13,000 years ago are almost certainly fossilised bacteria.

Nasa is probably also seeking the existence of extra funding for Mars.

[MPwannadecentincome]

....but still - they come

Jeff Wayne

[HairyArsedBloke]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle6934078.ece



Nasa is probably also seeking the existence of extra funding for Mars.

Hey, don't knock it. That technique worked for the mob studying the climate didn't it? They've got loads of dough to play with now.

[Board Game Geek]

There are more stars in the universe than there are grains on sand on Planet Earth (actually, that has been upgraded to there being 1000 stars per grain of sand).

If such an almost infinitely large number as that doesn't boggle you, then consider that even in our local galaxy, there are predicted to be billions of planets, at a very conservative guess.

And consider that there are billions upon billions of galaxies..and well, you do the math.

The universe is teeming with life.

It's just too blimming big to actually see or get to the damn stuff.

For now.

[HairyArsedBloke]

Life is probably everywhere, just not the complex sort.

In any case, for the supposedly higher forms, such as humans, that are mad enough to go looking for trouble, sorry, other life - the galaxy is still young someone has to be the first, why not here?

[TimberWolf]

There are more stars in the universe than there are grains on sand on Planet Earth (actually, that has been upgraded to there being 1000 stars per grain of sand).

If such an almost infinitely large number as that doesn't boggle you, then consider that even in our local galaxy, there are predicted to be billions of planets, at a very conservative guess.

And consider that there are billions upon billions of galaxies..and well, you do the math.

The universe is teeming with life.

It's just too blimming big to actually see or get to the damn stuff.

For now.

The Interweb outputs a figure of 10^24 stars in the universe, or a cube of them with dimensions 10^8 stars per side. So if a grain of sand were 0.1 mm (smallish, but sand comes in all sorts of sizes and this is an easy size), and each grain represents a star, a box of sand representing all the stars in the universe would make a 21km sand cube. Lots of sand, but comprehensible.

[NickFitz]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle6934078.ece

Nasa is probably also seeking the existence of extra funding for Mars.

Interesting - a report from The Times citing claims which appear to be attributed to the NASA Johnson Space Center but which don't appear anywhere on the NASA Johnson Space Center's news page

Could it possibly be that a newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch has been creating half-baked "news" stories about scientific matters which lack credible sources, and misinterpret what few sources they do have? Surely not

Still, as they don't link to the source of the story (which is definitely not NASA, or at least not the part of NASA they cite) it's hard to tell just how shoddy their journalism has been this time.

[TimberWolf]

Interesting - a report from The Times citing claims which appear to be attributed to the NASA Johnson Space Center but which don't appear anywhere on the NASA Johnson Space Center's news page

Could it possibly be that a newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch has been creating half-baked "news" stories about scientific matters which lack credible sources, and misinterpret what few sources they do have? Surely not

Still, as they don't link to the source of the story (which is definitely not NASA, or at least not the part of NASA they cite) it's hard to tell just how shoddy their journalism has been this time.

The news seems to be breaking on other sources too, some of which include more technical details and sources. The Nasa public announcement isn't expected until Monday I believe, so we'll know better then. Not whether life exists, but if the Times story is accurate/resurrected

[Diestl]

If there was life on other planets we would know about it by now. Life only exists on earth no other planet in the universe. If you believe otherwise, prove it!!.

[RichardCranium]

If there was life on other planets we would know about it by now. Life only exists on earth no other planet in the universe. If you believe otherwise, prove it!!.

Do you want a debate about the Fermi Paradox or are you trolling again?