Thanks, I was genuinely asking and I see I misunderstood what you were saying. I hadn't realized that looking for Martian life was scientifically taboo, though

Thanks, I was genuinely asking and I see I misunderstood what you were saying. I hadn't realized that looking for Martian life was scientifically taboo, though I vaguely recall seeing something about funding sources being skittish about it at some point (maybe that's tantamount to the same thing). At any rate, I agree this shouldn't be closed to inquiry, though I imagine there's close competition for which experiments and observations to run on Mars. If that's true, does that amount to a taboo or does it just indicate that other lines of investigation have a higher expected utility? Or perhaps you are just saying that at this point, you feel there is enough evidence to warrant a more full-bodied investigation? Again, genuinely interested.