Perspective: Does Mars Bar Life? ; Dr Steven Cutts, a Self-Confessed Mars Fanatic, Says There Will Be Life On His Favourite Planet.
Birmingham Post › April 27, 2004
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Summary
Is there life on Mars? That's the hot topic on every space watcher's lips and the answers are hard to come by. An entire fleet of the very latest robots has now descended on the Red Planet, intent on great discoveries. And yet, if there is life on Mars, how will we recognise it?
In looking for carbon based life forms on Mars aren't we guilty of planetary chauvinism? Why should life on another world bear any resemblance to life on Earth? Whenwe look for signs of chlorophyll or DNA on Mars, surely we're merely projecting our own expectations onto another planet. Isn't this like early European explorers arriving in a distant foreign land and writing off the locals as uncivilised because they didn't speak English?See the full content of this document
Extract
Perspective: Does Mars Bar Life? ; Dr Steven Cutts, a Self-Confessed Mars Fanatic, Says There Will Be Life On His Favourite Planet.
These are difficult questions to answer there's no question that Earth based scientists are prejudiced and do -perhaps foolishly - expect alien life to resemble our own. However, in so far as we can second guess the nature of alien life at all, we can only fall back on our knowledge of fundamental physics and chemistry.
As a starting point, let us assume that the laws of both physics and chemistry are the same throughout the universe. The evidence to support this view is actually quite strong. What is there a...See the full content of this document
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