Home | Email | Toolbar | Help | Make AOL My Homepage
 Saturday, 7 November 2009
News
| | | |
Powered by Google
Aol News
 
Do you think you know your current affairs???

News Quiz



Take the News Quiz

Nasa 'missed' life on Mars

Nasa is to send a new rover to Mars
Nasa is to send a new rover to Mars

- Search: Nasa and Mars
- Search: The Planets

Two Nasa space probes that visited Mars 30 years ago may have stumbled upon alien microbes on the Red Planet and inadvertently killed them, a scientist claims.

The problem was the Viking space probes of 1976-77 were looking for the wrong kind of life and did not recognise it, the researcher said in a paper presented at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle.

The new report, based on a more expansive view of where life can take root, may have Nasa looking for a different type of Martian life form when its next Mars spacecraft is launched later this year, one of the space agency's top scientists said.

Last month, scientists excitedly reported that new photographs of Mars showed geological changes that suggest water occasionally flowed on the planet - the most tantalising sign that Mars is hospitable to life.

In the '70s, the Viking mission found no signs of life. But it was looking for Earth-like life, in which salt water is the internal liquid of living cells. Given the cold dry conditions of Mars, that life could have evolved on Mars with the key internal fluid consisting of a mix of water and hydrogen peroxide, said Dirk Schulze-Mach, author of the new research.

That's because a water-hydrogen peroxide mix stays liquid at very low temperatures (-68°F/-55.56°C ), does not destroy cells when it freezes, and can suck scarce water vapour out of the air.

The Viking experiments of the '70s would not have noticed alien hydrogen peroxide-based life and, in fact, would have killed it by drowning and overheating the microbes, said Schulze-Makuch, a geology professor at Washington State University.

One Viking experiment seeking life on Mars poured water on soil. That would have essentially drowned hydrogen peroxide-based life, Schulze-Makuch said. A different experiment heated the soil to see if something would happen, but that would have baked Martian microbes, he said.

"The problem was that they didn't have any clue about the environment on Mars at that time,'' Schulze-Makuch said. "This kind of adaptation makes sense from a biochemical viewpoint.''

     

    NEWSMAKERS

    Newsmakers

    Maddie McCann Appeal
    An online appeal designed to be 'viral' in nature has been released to help find Madeleine McCann.

    More Photo Galleries

    VIDEO Inmates save guard's life in shocking jail attack.

    News Makers

    SHOCKING PICTURES

    Top News Photos

    Check out more
    "shocking pictures" from the recent news in this new gallery.

    Clear Class
    Rss Module

    Brown red-faced after tax plan...

     Prime Minister Gordon Brown suffered an embarrassing rebuff when he floated the prospect of a new tax worldwide, only to have it flatly and publicly rejected by the United States and other major financial players.
    Prime Minister Gordon Brown suffered an...
    rssModule
    Rss Module

    Family shock at Briton's bar...

     A British father on a road-trip through the United States was shot dead after stopping in Amarillo because he loved the cult song, relatives revealed.
    A British father on a road-trip through the...
    rssModule
    Rss Module

    Two-year-old punched by muggers

     Muggers punched a two-year-old girl in the head as they demanded money from her mother, Scotland Yard said.
    Muggers punched a two-year-old girl in the head...
    rssModule
    Rss Module

    Army appeal on Afghan...

     The killing of five British soldiers by an Afghan policeman must not prevent co-operation between the two nations, the commander of British forces in Afghanistan said.
    The killing of five British soldiers by an...
    rssModule
    Rss Module

    Mother 'died saving son from...

     Police have launched a murder hunt after a devoted mother of nine died saving her son from a house fire started by a firework pushed through her letterbox in Bodmin, Cornwall.
    Police have launched a murder hunt after a...
    rssModule
    Rss Module

    Anger over expenses overhaul...

     The head of the new watchdog charged with cleaning up Parliament is at the centre of a political firestorm after it emerged that he may scrap key elements of the plan to overhaul the system of MPs' expenses.
    The head of the new watchdog charged with...
    rssModule
    Rss Module

    Fort Hood gunman 'loved US' -...

     A Palestinian uncle of the Fort Hood shooting suspect said that his nephew loved America and wanted to serve his country, but his work as a military psychiatrist drove him to tears.
    A Palestinian uncle of the Fort Hood shooting...
    rssModule
    Rss Module

    Plans to cut legal aid fees...

     Government plans to slash legal aid fees to barristers would be disastrous, the chairman of the Bar Council has warned.
    Government plans to slash legal aid fees to...
    rssModule
    Rss Module

    Mystery over £90m jackpot...

     The identity of two British ticketholders who shared a massive £90 million jackpot in Friday night's Euromillions draw was still a mystery as the cash remained unclaimed.
    The identity of two British ticketholders who...
    rssModule
    Rss Module

    £1m worth of cannabis plants...

     Cannabis plants worth more than £1 million have been seized by police in one of the biggest finds of the drug in Essex.
    Cannabis plants worth more than £1 million have...
    rssModule
    Rss Module

    Brown red-faced after tax plan...

     Prime Minister Gordon Brown suffered an embarrassing rebuff when he floated the prospect of a new tax worldwide, only to have it flatly and publicly rejected by the United States and other major financial players.
    Prime Minister Gordon Brown suffered an...
    rssModule
    Rss Module

    Family shock at Briton's bar...

     A British father on a road-trip through the United States was shot dead after stopping in Amarillo because he loved the cult song, relatives revealed.
    A British father on a road-trip through the...
    rssModule
    Monday, 17 November 2008
    News Beta
    | | | |
    Powered by Google


    About AOL | Contact AOL | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | News Sitemap | Advertising Contact | Affiliate Programme | International | Help

    Get the latest breaking news stories from the UK and around the world on AOL. From local news to international current affairs, find out and have your say on the events that matter.

    © AOL (UK) Limited its affiliates and licensors