Do we finally have proof of life on Mars?

www.dailymail.co.uk ^ | Updated: 13:36 EST, 16 December 2014 | By Jonathan O'Callaghan

[Red Badger]

Nasa scientists in California have revealed evidence that suggests there is life on Mars based on readings taken by the Curiosity rover (shown). They say methane spikes on the planet could be produced by bacteria. And at the moment there is no alternative explanation for the spikes

[Red Badger]

SPACE ping!......................

[BipolarBob]

I have a mental image of an astronaut on Mars with a defective space suit holding a sign “I can’t breathe!”.

[Covenantor]

It’s giant sand worm farts, gotta be. Sand worm mobility explains the spikes. A shoot and scoot kind of thing.

[Steely Tom]

Freekin' Titan is covered with actual oceans of methane. Where is the "life" there? It's -180°C on Titan's surface.

[MtnMan101]

“STOP METHANE NOW!”
“STOP METHANE NOW!”

[bkepley]

I’ve never understood why they don’t have a powerfull microscope on board to look for life and prove it beyond doubt.

[thackney]

The low background level of methane detected by Curiosity can be explained by the sun's rays degrading organic material possibly deposited by meteors, said the Nasa scientists.

Metors carry organic material? From where?

[Signalman]

That’s even colder than Barrow,AK:

http://seaice.alaska.edu/gi/observatories/barrow_webcam

[tbpiper]

Yes, the presence of scientific devices is proof that on Mars, there is evidence of life.

[Keli Kilohana]

Since Mars is no longer pristine (having been visited by numerous probes) couldn’t any bacteria have hitched a ride on one of the probes? That’s what scientists twenty years ago said about a Martian meteorite found in Antarctica. Remember? Slick Willie even said that they had found evidence of fossilized life in the meteorite from Mars. Now, he didn’t graduate from East Anglia University—but, his word is as good as the Gospel!

[LevinFan]

But that methane has always been there, not a spike. There are other processes that produce methane.

[GeronL]

great question

[Steely Tom]

Man, it looks cold there.

[WayneS]

Do we finally have proof of life on Mars?

No.

This discovery might be evidence of life on Mats, but Evidence of something should never be confused with proof.

[cripplecreek]

We're not really going to know one way or the other until we go there. Personally I think we will find it in caves and deep underground.

If there is life, it ain't smart.

[thackney]

No significant oxygen. Without oxygen, methane is the lowest energy state for the existence of carbon and hydrogen.

Here on earth, the presence of oxygen takes them down to CO2 and H2O, unless an outside source, like a biological process, chemically combines them into a higher energy state. This allows us to use them as fuel.

[Resolute Conservative]

And it stays alive at extreme hot temperatures (above boiling point of water) and lows near or at absolute 0?

[Steely Tom]

Now if I could just remember that!

Thanks, thackney.

[kidd]

I did a paper in college on interstellar chemistry.

Organic material had been detected in 1982 (when I wrote the paper)