[John H K]

The experiments indicated the presence of life.

No, it didn't.

There's one retired Viking scientist, I believe, who insists it did. I haven't researched the story enough to really comment on his possible kookiness (and yes, legit scientists can and do go "kooky.")

[Dialup Llama]

>There's one retired Viking scientist, I believe, who insists it did.

I remember in some statistics class we looked at the data. The data was good enough to make the results significant but not by much. I guess they figured if there was really life, those experiments should have been fermenting wine.

[NeonKnight]

All scientists are a little kooky...but I digress.

[Socks C.]

BTW . . . I agree with you. There is NO WAY they can conclude on the basis of sound scientific method the discovery of life - past or present . . . save catching live footage of something slithering across the surface . . . even that would be doubted.

But my gut says that given enough grinding they will expose what absolutely "looks like" a fossil cast. . . .they may have already . . .

[Don Joe]

The experiments indicated the presence of life.

No, it didn't.

There's one retired Viking scientist, I believe, who insists it did. I haven't researched the story enough to really comment on his possible kookiness (and yes, legit scientists can and do go "kooky.")

Whoa, not so fast there, cowboy!

To: djf

Instant research, courtesy of Google:

http://www.resa.net/nasa/mars_life_viking.htm

That first one covers it pretty much as I remembered it. NASA said it couldn't be life, because life was impossible on Mars, given the conditions found there after landing. Others, though, said otherwise. :)

http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/07/20/viking.anniversary/

That article explains the control -- they boiled one sample, then tested both. A reaction from only the non-boiled sample would indicate life, and that's what happened. It (the article) also has a suggestion on repeating the test to eliminate most of the variables -- do separate L and D tests to test for "handedness", which, if present, would be pretty conclusive evidence. (my paraphrasing)

http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/09/03/mars.viking/

That article covers the discovery of a circadian rhythm in the Viking tests, which is strong evidence of life.

I got 14,000 hits for "mars viking life experiments" (w/o the quotes), those were from the top of the first page of hits. Here are a couple more links from the query:

http://www.space.com/news/spacehistory/viking_life_010728-1.html

That article (on the second page) profers a theory similar to the one discussed in this thread, i.e., meteoric strike on Earth that "infected" Mars. It also goes into more depth on the circadian rhythms, which matched Mars' day length.

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/viking_labeledrelease_010905-1.html

That one has more details on the experiments.

94 posted on 02/22/2004 1:05:25 AM EST by Don Joe (We've traded the Rule of Law for the Law of Rule.)

Please note that the experiments have been receiving a fair amount of scrutiny as of late, since NASA published the results, and there is a growing consensus for the "pro life" side of the debate. Among other things, there was a circadian rhythm -- based on the Martian day length (and, the experiments were temperature-controlled to a very high degree of accuracy).

To: Brett66

Here is a link inside of the article that you posted:
http://www.space.com/news/spacehistory/viking_life_010728-1.html

The link above is for an article about the Viking I/II mission.

Here is a quote from the article:
""To my surprise, in their LR experiment, they seemed to have clear periodic oscillations in the release of gas from a Martian soil sample injected with a nutrient solution. The oscillations in gas release had a period of what appeared to be one Martian day. Being a circadian biologist, I became very excited," Miller told SPACE.com.

On Earth, Miller said, circadian rhythms -- oscillations with a period of nearly 24 hours -- are present in every species examined down to blue-green algae. Was it possible, he asked, that the LR experiment was recording the circadian rhythm of a Martian soil-dwelling microbe?

NASA worked with Miller, providing him the 1976 LR data sets, as well as converting the information to an electronic format. That allowed the circadian biologist to study the data using modern computer-based analytical tools.

"I found that the gas release was indeed rhythmic, with a period of precisely 24.66 hours, a Martian day," Miller said. This finding, along with other painstaking assessments about LR operations, the scientist feels that a Martian circadian rhythm in the experiment may constitute a biosignature - a sign of life."

36 posted on 03/01/2004 12:23:42 AM EST by NotQuiteCricket (10 kinds of people in the world)

I'll close by pointing out that the above material reflects "pro-life" viewpoint from considerably more than "one retired Viking scientist" who went "kooky."

Instant research, courtesy of Google:

http://www.resa.net/nasa/mars_life_viking.htm

That first one covers it pretty much as I remembered it. NASA said it couldn't be life, because life was impossible on Mars, given the conditions found there after landing. Others, though, said otherwise. :)

http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/07/20/viking.anniversary/

That article explains the control -- they boiled one sample, then tested both. A reaction from only the non-boiled sample would indicate life, and that's what happened. It (the article) also has a suggestion on repeating the test to eliminate most of the variables -- do separate L and D tests to test for "handedness", which, if present, would be pretty conclusive evidence. (my paraphrasing)

http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/09/03/mars.viking/

That article covers the discovery of a circadian rhythm in the Viking tests, which is strong evidence of life.

I got 14,000 hits for "mars viking life experiments" (w/o the quotes), those were from the top of the first page of hits. Here are a couple more links from the query:

http://www.space.com/news/spacehistory/viking_life_010728-1.html

That article (on the second page) profers a theory similar to the one discussed in this thread, i.e., meteoric strike on Earth that "infected" Mars. It also goes into more depth on the circadian rhythms, which matched Mars' day length.

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/viking_labeledrelease_010905-1.html

That one has more details on the experiments.

Here is a link inside of the article that you posted:
http://www.space.com/news/spacehistory/viking_life_010728-1.html

The link above is for an article about the Viking I/II mission.

Here is a quote from the article:
""To my surprise, in their LR experiment, they seemed to have clear periodic oscillations in the release of gas from a Martian soil sample injected with a nutrient solution. The oscillations in gas release had a period of what appeared to be one Martian day. Being a circadian biologist, I became very excited," Miller told SPACE.com.

On Earth, Miller said, circadian rhythms -- oscillations with a period of nearly 24 hours -- are present in every species examined down to blue-green algae. Was it possible, he asked, that the LR experiment was recording the circadian rhythm of a Martian soil-dwelling microbe?

NASA worked with Miller, providing him the 1976 LR data sets, as well as converting the information to an electronic format. That allowed the circadian biologist to study the data using modern computer-based analytical tools.

"I found that the gas release was indeed rhythmic, with a period of precisely 24.66 hours, a Martian day," Miller said. This finding, along with other painstaking assessments about LR operations, the scientist feels that a Martian circadian rhythm in the experiment may constitute a biosignature - a sign of life."