Kitten got to hold an alien!!!

[kittynh]

well this weekend she got to hold the Martian rock that may provide evidence that there was once life on Mars. Which is as close as you are going to get to holding an alien here on Earth!

Pretty darn cool!

Kids, go do your math and science homework!

 

[kalen]

It seems strange that you would get to handle a rock that "may provide evidence that there was once life on Mars." The problem is that here on the Home World there is life all over the place, and by touching the rock, you have contaminated it. Who's to say whether the stuff on the rock came from here or 'out there.'

At least I hope you washed your hands before you handled it (wink).

 

[kalen]

On second thought, if it really a Martian rock, then it was probably found on the Earth anyway as a meteorite. I don't recall any missions to Mars that came back with rocks - or even came back at all.

So, if it was found on Earth, it probably has lots of stuff on it that is indicative of life - Earth life! I wonder how they are going to tell the difference.

 

[Eos of the Eons]

If I'm not mistaken, the rock is petrified and had some petrified life forms in it. Then it went on its journey to earth in petrified state and landed in the arctic or antarctic...will try to dig up some information.

Kitty, Where'd she get to hold it at? That's really cool, and no fair

 

[Eos of the Eons]

Hmm...

It attracted global attention in 1996 when NASA scientists said they had found chemical traces that could have been left by tiny bacteria that either hitched a ride on the meteorite, or had once lived in it before it was knocked off Mars.

They're not sure the bacteria in that particular rock made it to earth, but they see evidence it once contained bacteria before it got to earth.

http://web.mit.edu/bpweiss/www/covnytimes.htm

And another source:

A team of researchers found that crystals of a mineral called magnetite, which had been found previously in the meteorite, is arranged in long chains. The team says these chains could have been formed only by living organisms, though those organisms are long since dead

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/meteorite_chain_010226.html

 

[Atlas]

well this weekend she got to hold the Martian rock that may provide evidence that there was once life on Mars. Which is as close as you are going to get to holding an alien here on Earth!!

You should call her everyday. Because if it's like this movie I saw, she's already pregnant and spinning a cocoon.

After that things got bad.

 

[The Bad Astronomer]

Not to be a wet blanket (I guess that's part of my job description though), but last I heard, the last bit of evidence that the Mars rock has life in it -- the "worm" fossil -- is now widely believed to have a non-biotic origin. I have no references handy, so you have no reason to believe me (har har). I'll ask around my friends who study Mars and see if there is a paper or something on this.

 

[kittynh]

I asked her if she sneezed on it.

Actually it was in a small sealed container. So she held the container in her hands.

It was at the Smithsonian. She had to fly to DC this weekend to pick up some meteorites for some testing she is doing. She found out that when a cute undergrad science major shows up, the scientists pull out all the interesting rocks to impress her. She held a rock older than the Earth! She was impressed.

She also got to walk around the mall speaking Arabic as it was some folk festival. It was throwing people off, her speaking Arabic. She was even translating for a guy showing how to make traditional bricks. Someone remarked, "so I guess that whole profiliing thing wouldn't work with HER around!" Yeah, anyone that speaks Arabic is a terrorist! She almost got yet another marriage proposal Her first was when she was 15 in Jordan. Hey, he was going to let her have the BIG tent.

 

[kittynh]

Not to be a wet blanket (I guess that's part of my job description though), but last I heard, the last bit of evidence that the Mars rock has life in it -- the "worm" fossil -- is now widely believed to have a non-biotic origin. I have no references handy, so you have no reason to believe me (har har). I'll ask around my friends who study Mars and see if there is a paper or something on this.

Look Bad As, it was just a bunch of geeky scientists trying to pick up the cute geology student! It was just cool to pick up anything from Mars!

But it would be cool if you could share the paper!

I can't believe they just GAVE her "rocks from space!" to take back with her to play with. Mind you, did they give her any really big diamonds, nope! They all talked about how diamonds are "so very common and boring". zzzzzzzz

 

[Eos of the Eons]

Not to be a wet blanket (I guess that's part of my job description though), but last I heard, the last bit of evidence that the Mars rock has life in it -- the "worm" fossil -- is now widely believed to have a non-biotic origin. I have no references handy, so you have no reason to believe me (har har). I'll ask around my friends who study Mars and see if there is a paper or something on this.

Oh I'll, believe you when you can explain:

The team says these chains could have been formed only by living organisms, though those organisms are long since dead

How those chains could have been formed without living organisms