An exceptionally detailed analysis of photos from NASA's Mars Curiosity rover has recently been getting a lot of attention, as one expert believes she has identified evidence of ancient microbial life on the Red Planet.
When last we heard from Mars Curiosity, the plucky little rover had
detected traces of possible biogenic methane gas. This week reports surfaced that images taken in the past show features some scientists say are consistent with fossil
stromatolites on Earth:
Identifying signs of life, or at least life-supporting conditions, on Mars has always been one of Curiosity's main missions, since it first set down in the Gale Crater back in 2012. Since then, the rover has taken countless samples and photographs of Martian terrain, even as it made its way to Mount Sharp - where the latest phase of experiments and drilling have begun.
Some early looks at these photographs revealed mysteriously pitted and rippled surfaces on the Red Planet - geological patterns that looks suspiciously just like those seen in prehistoric stone samples found back on Earth. His patterning, it has been suggested, could have been caused by the ebb and flow of warm oceans on mats of primitive microbial life.
Some of the findings and analysis in question appear in a
paper published here. I've posted some comparative pictures of
terrestrial stromatolites here.
- Several new potentially habitable exo-planets have been teased out of Kepler data. Odds are there are a lot of these planets in our galaxy.
- A nondescript block of sandstone has revealed half a dozen fossil Utahraptors—these are large carnivorous feathered dinos up to five meters long that would have ruined your day, had you run into them in the late Cretaceous.
- So word is 2015 will have an extra second, and this one small change poses some big headaches for our super sync'd wireless interbooz networks and the computer substrates they depend on.
- It's a cold and icy Saturday, even here in Austin, TX! But the Weather Channel has their top environmental photos of 2014 posted, including some beautiful wintery ones, well worth a look!
The elements are always a factor. Weather affects whether and how wildlife can survive in certain places and which environments remain pristine — as well as how photographers can freeze these moments in time. Images of these events and places help us to experience them from afar. We’ve picked 50 of the most captivating from the previous year.