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[10ebbor10]

On that note, how's the mammoth project going? I hear they've managed to create a blood sample akin to have being freshly drawn. Alright, speculation aside , what would the effects be if we have conclusive proof of the existence of life of mars once? I imagine everyone even vaguely interested in space will dance, but what about the world in general?

I suppose the majority of the population won't care. It does mean that missions to Mars will have to meet stronger Quarantine standards in order to avoid contamination.

[Scoops Novel]

Well, Nasa Funding will go up. Especially if they time it right, when the jingles are playing. The dream would be to find something, even bacteria, that's indigenous, can be proved to be such, and is alive. Show that wriggling around on Christmas, talk about what we could potentially learn from it as well as what it means, and the money might come flooding in.

[Darvi]

And that's why they're holding back on the news about the discovery. They're waiting for the stars to be right. Christmas stars, that is.

[MaximumZero]

Actually, if we discovered fossil proof of alien life, how much would we able to know about it through curiosity? And how far are we off synthesizing it?

I said this a while ago, but if we find fossils on Mars, the oil companies will set up an entire metropolis there in a year.

[MonkeyHead]

Curiosity isnt actually capable of discovering evidence as direct as fossils though, and no where near capable of detecting bacteria-like organisms. What it can do is measure the relative abundance of C, N, O and H (they constiuents of organic chemicals) and that allows us to work backwards to work out what molecules there actually are, in what sort of amounts, and some basic spectroscopy. So, again, this means the discovery is probably linked to the presence of organic molecules, which Curiosity is able to determine the presence of better than previous landers (it can heat samples very slowly to prevent the release of perchlorate molecules which break down orgainc compunds). My interest is in what molecules, as in how complex and how abundant. Are we talking methane or other alkanes/kenes, alcohols, amino acids, protiens or some other polymer? In concentrations that could only be produced by some kind of life process? A very long shot would be water in the form of permafrost in abundances not yet thought possible.

[Eagleon]

Anyone else irritated that NASA is forced to run a hype machine to generate any kind of sustained interest these days? Because that's what this is, you don't say "Oh, we found something HUGE but we'll tell you in a week or two just in case" in normal scientific dialogue, particularly if you still have tests to run/numbers to crunch (they probably don't). Not that I blame them, but it's just a little sad.

[Scoops Novel]

I agree, particularly considering what people do get hyped up about.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Actual, down to numbers science is rarely very interesting to the public. When scientists don't play it up people vote for anti-science politicians, so it's kind of a necessity.

Carl Sagan is an excellent example of this. He didn't do revolutionary work as a scientist, but he did bridge the gap between science and laymen enough that people cared.

[alway]

Carl Sagan and now his two pupils, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Bill Nye.

[Sirus]

Gah, alway beat me to Bill Nye

[PyroDesu]

BILL! BILL! BILL! BILL! BILL! BILL!... Still cracks me up.

[Flying Dice]

Actually, if we discovered fossil proof of alien life, how much would we able to know about it through curiosity? And how far are we off synthesizing it?

I said this a while ago, but if we find fossils on Mars, the oil companies will set up an entire metropolis there in a year.

Explain why we haven't turned Titan into Coruscant by now, given the levels of liquid hydrocarbons on it. It'll take at least another decade for that to happen. 


Oh, and Bill Nye is pure, concentrated science. He was the face of science to generations of schoolchildren. When he dies, he will join the Pantheon of Science.

Incidentally, why don't we have a Pantheon of Science?

[PyroDesu]

Incidentally, why don't we have a Pantheon of Science?

Well, TVTropes has the Pantheons of Knowledge and Technology (which the Toady One is on, incidentally), but that's as close as I got to finding a science pantheon. And neither are really good for an actual Pantheon of Science, since they're mostly composed of fictitious characters.

[Flying Dice]

Incidentally, why don't we have a Pantheon of Science?

Well, TVTropes has the Pantheons of Knowledge and Technology (which the Toady One is on, incidentally), but that's as close as I got to finding a science pantheon. And neither are really good for an actual Pantheon of Science, since they're mostly composed of fictitious characters.

That's what I mean. We've got enough pillars of science to make at least a solid dozen. Then comes the fanfiction of Bill Nye cheating on Marie Curie by descending to Earth, taking the form of a Dalek, and seducing mortals. Give it a few thousand years and people will treat it as a true classic of the Terran Golden Age.

[PyroDesu]

Bill Nye, God of Science Education
Neil DeGrasse Tyson, God of Astronomy
Carl Sagan, God of Scientific Idealism
Marie Curie, Goddess of Nuclear Chemistry
Isaac Newton, God of Physics
Albert Einstein, God of Scientific Mathematics (?)
Svante Arrhenius, God of Physical Chemistry
Isaac Asimov, God of Robotics
Gregor Mendel, God of Genetics
Louis Pastuer, God of Microbiology

How's that so far?