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Aggie scientists search for signs of life on Mars
By: Nick Anthis
Issue date: 2/9/05 Section: Aggielife
He said the "problem-solving computer on your shoulders" is necessary to deal with the unique issues that will arise in the search for life on Mars.
Jim Wild, a professor of biochemistry and genetics at A&M and the advisor under whom McDaniel earned his doctorate, said "all of the conditions we would anticipate being necessary for life existed at some time in Mars' history," including salt, water and a favorable temperature.
Despite these past favorable conditions, it is unlikely that anything more complicated than simple bacteria lives or has lived on Mars.
Wild said the search for life on Mars is similar to the search on Earth for extremophiles - life forms, usually bacteria, that live in extreme conditions. Life on Earth has proven the ability to adapt to conditions that would seem to be extremely inhospitable, including in 250 degrees Fahrenheit water near volcanic vents on the ocean floor.
Some bacteria called lithotrophs can even live inside of rocks. In his mission to M.A.R.S., McDaniel focused on the search for these.
McDaniel said, "if Martian life is there, it probably is a residual life," left over from when Mars was wetter and warmer. "It is probably just holding on to some niche," he said. This life would probably live underground, protected from dangerous radiation and extreme temperatures.
The cold harsh fact remains, though, that no direct evidence has been found for past or present life on Mars. Regardless, we should still consider that the discovery of any life would raise significant ethical issues, including the extent to which humans would affect this extraterrestrial life and how humans could prevent contamination of Mars with life from Earth.
McDaniel said scientists should be extremely careful so that if life is discovered, they can study it without affecting it. That way, "you always have the option to decide as a group that you are going to leave the Martian biosphere alone and let it evolve however it's going to evolve."
If we ever found something as extraordinary as life on Mars, though, could we ever really just leave it alone?
Jim Wild, a professor of biochemistry and genetics at A&M and the advisor under whom McDaniel earned his doctorate, said "all of the conditions we would anticipate being necessary for life existed at some time in Mars' history," including salt, water and a favorable temperature.
Despite these past favorable conditions, it is unlikely that anything more complicated than simple bacteria lives or has lived on Mars.
Wild said the search for life on Mars is similar to the search on Earth for extremophiles - life forms, usually bacteria, that live in extreme conditions. Life on Earth has proven the ability to adapt to conditions that would seem to be extremely inhospitable, including in 250 degrees Fahrenheit water near volcanic vents on the ocean floor.
Some bacteria called lithotrophs can even live inside of rocks. In his mission to M.A.R.S., McDaniel focused on the search for these.
McDaniel said, "if Martian life is there, it probably is a residual life," left over from when Mars was wetter and warmer. "It is probably just holding on to some niche," he said. This life would probably live underground, protected from dangerous radiation and extreme temperatures.
The cold harsh fact remains, though, that no direct evidence has been found for past or present life on Mars. Regardless, we should still consider that the discovery of any life would raise significant ethical issues, including the extent to which humans would affect this extraterrestrial life and how humans could prevent contamination of Mars with life from Earth.
McDaniel said scientists should be extremely careful so that if life is discovered, they can study it without affecting it. That way, "you always have the option to decide as a group that you are going to leave the Martian biosphere alone and let it evolve however it's going to evolve."
If we ever found something as extraordinary as life on Mars, though, could we ever really just leave it alone?
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