3 ms·

Iron ‘blueberries’ may be sign of microbial life on Mars

44 points by yogrish 14y ago

da02 14y ago
There is also an alternate explanation that was replicated in the lab: http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2005/arch05/050325blueberries.htm http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2005/arch05/050325blueberr... He obtained a quantity of hematite and blasted it with an electric arc. The results are seen in the right half of the image above. The embedded spheres created by the arc appear to replicate many of the features of the blueberries on Mars. No other laboratory process has achieved a similar result.
- ubernostrum 14y ago
  Well... 1) The article that started this thread links to an abstract of a paper which claims to have pretty compelling evidence for a relationship between mico-organisms and connections, and appears in a pretty respectable journal. 2) The site you link to... how to put it kindly... reads like a bunch of cranks. Seriously, go poke around in there; they link the plasma-arc thing because it supports their "Electric Universe" ideas, and they use it as a vehicle to push that. And their link to the paper about it is 404, so I can't actually verify it, but it's a "presented at", not a "published in", which is a red flag.
  - da02 14y ago
    Thanks for pointing that out and putting it kindly. In case anyone is interested in spotting any further red flags with the idea, here is a similar paper by Ransom on craters and spherules: http://www.benthamscience.com/open/toaaj/articles/V004/SI0162TOAAJ/185TOAAJ.pdf http://www.benthamscience.com/open/toaaj/articles/V004/SI016...
se85 14y ago
Could someone please explain to me how such conditions could be present on the surface of mars or the deserts here on planet earth to trigger the same results as the lab results?
ori_b 14y ago
It seems like everything we see "could be proof of life on Mars". It's great there's excitement, but it would be even better if the media didn't cry wolf every time.
waterlesscloud 14y ago
"(But geologists have shown that the more a guess is repeated, the more it’s apt to be called a fact.)" Heh. Anyway, the blueberries have come up again the last couple of weeks as Opportunity has just run into new rocks with similar little round things in abundance. Maybe not exactly the same things, but similar. You can see some of the new ones on the rocks here: http://marsrover.nasa.gov/gallery/all/opportunity_p3062.html http://marsrover.nasa.gov/gallery/all/opportunity_p3062.html Microscopic Imager of some of them here: http://marsrover.nasa.gov/gallery/all/opportunity_m3064.html http://marsrover.nasa.gov/gallery/all/opportunity_m3064.html

44 points by yogrish 14y ago

da02 14y ago

There is also an alternate explanation that was replicated in the lab: http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2005/arch05/050325blueberries.htm http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2005/arch05/050325blueberr... He obtained a quantity of hematite and blasted it with an electric arc. The results are seen in the right half of the image above. The embedded spheres created by the arc appear to replicate many of the features of the blueberries on Mars. No other laboratory process has achieved a similar result.

ubernostrum 14y ago
Well... 1) The article that started this thread links to an abstract of a paper which claims to have pretty compelling evidence for a relationship between mico-organisms and connections, and appears in a pretty respectable journal. 2) The site you link to... how to put it kindly... reads like a bunch of cranks. Seriously, go poke around in there; they link the plasma-arc thing because it supports their "Electric Universe" ideas, and they use it as a vehicle to push that. And their link to the paper about it is 404, so I can't actually verify it, but it's a "presented at", not a "published in", which is a red flag.
- da02 14y ago
  Thanks for pointing that out and putting it kindly. In case anyone is interested in spotting any further red flags with the idea, here is a similar paper by Ransom on craters and spherules: http://www.benthamscience.com/open/toaaj/articles/V004/SI0162TOAAJ/185TOAAJ.pdf http://www.benthamscience.com/open/toaaj/articles/V004/SI016...

se85 14y ago

Could someone please explain to me how such conditions could be present on the surface of mars or the deserts here on planet earth to trigger the same results as the lab results?

ori_b 14y ago

It seems like everything we see "could be proof of life on Mars". It's great there's excitement, but it would be even better if the media didn't cry wolf every time.

waterlesscloud 14y ago

"(But geologists have shown that the more a guess is repeated, the more it’s apt to be called a fact.)" Heh. Anyway, the blueberries have come up again the last couple of weeks as Opportunity has just run into new rocks with similar little round things in abundance. Maybe not exactly the same things, but similar. You can see some of the new ones on the rocks here: http://marsrover.nasa.gov/gallery/all/opportunity_p3062.html http://marsrover.nasa.gov/gallery/all/opportunity_p3062.html Microscopic Imager of some of them here: http://marsrover.nasa.gov/gallery/all/opportunity_m3064.html http://marsrover.nasa.gov/gallery/all/opportunity_m3064.html