Real Science
I like the science, here. (However, note my point below).
Glauconitic-Like Clay Found On Mars Suggests the Planet Once Had Habitable Conditions (phys.org)
A team of researchers from Spain, France and the U.S. has found evidence of a glauconitic-like clay on Mars that suggests the planet once had habitable conditions. Phys.Org reports: In their paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy, the group describes their study of clay minerals extracted from Gale Crater by Curiosity rover back in 2016 and what they found. Back in 2016, NASA's Curiosity rover drilled into the Martian surface inside of Gale Crater. The rover then extracted samples of the clay minerals and used its instruments to analyze the material. In this new effort, the researchers have taken a close look at the results of the analysis and found that it very closely resembles glauconitic clays here on Earth.
Glauconite is an iron potassium phyllosilicate mineral. It is almost always found as ovoid shapes in sediment beds, carbonates and sandstones -- formation requires stable conditions over a long period. This is what makes the discovery of a similar clay on Mars so exciting -- it suggests that it likely formed under stable conditions for a long time, perhaps millions of years. And that suggests that for at least one part of Mars, conditions were, to some extent, suitable for life over millions of years. [...] The researchers note that their findings are not evidence of life on Mars, but suggest that there was a time during which conditions on the surface were favorable for its presence.
My note: We thought the Earth was the centre of everything, until it wasn't - because this was an assumption based on superstitious learning. Of course, this turn of thought had some friction, resisted vehemently by the superstitiocrats, who belong to every epoch. We were pretty convinced that life couldn't exist elsewhere in the universe - another assumption based on the end of your nose. Then, by the countervailing drive called curiosity, (sometimes a function of the will to dominate), we discovered that there were lots of other planets out there. Some of them were of comparable size to ours. We kept finding out more: Some planets could be in the same temperature range. Some planets could have water.
Now we know there is water everywhere, (naturally), as there is methane and amino acids. So, we concluded that life was possible on other planets. But - this is still another assumption. We narrow things down, over the course of generations, who are born and then die. But, there's still a degree of superstition. There's superstition in your belief that sun will rise, tomorrow. So, superstition is still in science, and was, like religion, or magic, once a foundation for it. For all the disparagement heaped on the vice called vanity - we wouldn't be here if it weren't for the facts that lots of thinking people went out of the way to impress the sandals off of each other.
So, now we have narrowed it down to the possibility that life could have been sustained on Mars, or millions of years, because of our discovery of Martian Glauconitic-Like Clay. I think that's fabulous, excellent science. Ad it to water existing on the planet, and signs of beds and caverns probably carved out by water, long ago, and it looks pretty possible that life existed there.
One day, when we are more comfortable with the idea that intelligent life probably exists elsewhere in the universe, we will narrow THIS present partly-superstitious assumption about life on Mars, and take seriously the idea that there may once have been INTELLIGENT life on Mars. I sit waiting for that time, already convinced that there was.
And note the failure of our military intelligence to explain the super-physical behaviour of many, many confirmed UFO's. It takes a looong time for humans to figure things out. And, every 1-4 generations, there is a sizeable upset of the knowledge that went before. And you know what? Just as China and Russia know this about the USA? The aliens know this about Earth.
Me: I am dithering and such, washing dishes, etc., hoping to be able to do a long trek by 3:pm today. My computer/net is extra slow/dysfunctional. I am seeing if I can make an online order, which would reduced my trek a little. And, I am slowing catching up to LJ comments. But extremely slowly. Also, I have been doing garlic like a madman lately, which helps, except when it encourages LGS. What I am saying is that today is a walk across Niagara Falls.
Glauconitic-Like Clay Found On Mars Suggests the Planet Once Had Habitable Conditions (phys.org)
A team of researchers from Spain, France and the U.S. has found evidence of a glauconitic-like clay on Mars that suggests the planet once had habitable conditions. Phys.Org reports: In their paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy, the group describes their study of clay minerals extracted from Gale Crater by Curiosity rover back in 2016 and what they found. Back in 2016, NASA's Curiosity rover drilled into the Martian surface inside of Gale Crater. The rover then extracted samples of the clay minerals and used its instruments to analyze the material. In this new effort, the researchers have taken a close look at the results of the analysis and found that it very closely resembles glauconitic clays here on Earth.
Glauconite is an iron potassium phyllosilicate mineral. It is almost always found as ovoid shapes in sediment beds, carbonates and sandstones -- formation requires stable conditions over a long period. This is what makes the discovery of a similar clay on Mars so exciting -- it suggests that it likely formed under stable conditions for a long time, perhaps millions of years. And that suggests that for at least one part of Mars, conditions were, to some extent, suitable for life over millions of years. [...] The researchers note that their findings are not evidence of life on Mars, but suggest that there was a time during which conditions on the surface were favorable for its presence.
My note: We thought the Earth was the centre of everything, until it wasn't - because this was an assumption based on superstitious learning. Of course, this turn of thought had some friction, resisted vehemently by the superstitiocrats, who belong to every epoch. We were pretty convinced that life couldn't exist elsewhere in the universe - another assumption based on the end of your nose. Then, by the countervailing drive called curiosity, (sometimes a function of the will to dominate), we discovered that there were lots of other planets out there. Some of them were of comparable size to ours. We kept finding out more: Some planets could be in the same temperature range. Some planets could have water.
Now we know there is water everywhere, (naturally), as there is methane and amino acids. So, we concluded that life was possible on other planets. But - this is still another assumption. We narrow things down, over the course of generations, who are born and then die. But, there's still a degree of superstition. There's superstition in your belief that sun will rise, tomorrow. So, superstition is still in science, and was, like religion, or magic, once a foundation for it. For all the disparagement heaped on the vice called vanity - we wouldn't be here if it weren't for the facts that lots of thinking people went out of the way to impress the sandals off of each other.
So, now we have narrowed it down to the possibility that life could have been sustained on Mars, or millions of years, because of our discovery of Martian Glauconitic-Like Clay. I think that's fabulous, excellent science. Ad it to water existing on the planet, and signs of beds and caverns probably carved out by water, long ago, and it looks pretty possible that life existed there.
One day, when we are more comfortable with the idea that intelligent life probably exists elsewhere in the universe, we will narrow THIS present partly-superstitious assumption about life on Mars, and take seriously the idea that there may once have been INTELLIGENT life on Mars. I sit waiting for that time, already convinced that there was.
And note the failure of our military intelligence to explain the super-physical behaviour of many, many confirmed UFO's. It takes a looong time for humans to figure things out. And, every 1-4 generations, there is a sizeable upset of the knowledge that went before. And you know what? Just as China and Russia know this about the USA? The aliens know this about Earth.
Me: I am dithering and such, washing dishes, etc., hoping to be able to do a long trek by 3:pm today. My computer/net is extra slow/dysfunctional. I am seeing if I can make an online order, which would reduced my trek a little. And, I am slowing catching up to LJ comments. But extremely slowly. Also, I have been doing garlic like a madman lately, which helps, except when it encourages LGS. What I am saying is that today is a walk across Niagara Falls.