Mushrooms on Mars

[smartcooky]

There isn't one, even given the most cursory glance. In terms of the science involved it barely gets even a single step towards first base.

Oh, there isn't one. OK, then well you will be able to explain to us all exactly what is happening here then. Pray tell, what is your expert, all-knowing, erudite explanation for what can clearly be observed to be happening?

Share with us your well-considered scientific explanation as to why the white objects in these two photos taken three sols apart, have suddenly appeared or grown in size.

I can't wait!

 

[RecoveringYuppy]

Oh, there isn't one. OK, then what is your expert, all-knowing, erudite explanation for what can clearly be observed to be happening?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/r98l1lumc562jye/MarsOpportunitySol1145-48.jpg?raw=1

Share with us your well-considered scientific explanation as to why the white objects in these two photos taken three sols apart, have appeared or grown in size.

I can't wait!

I'm afraid I don't have a link handy but at least one scientist has said that's just the dust blowing away and exposing more of the rocks.

ETA: BTW has anyone double check that this nutcase has even verified that those two photos are of the exact same spot?

ETA: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/sci...-mars-researchers-claim-signs-life-red-planet Link to blowing sand explanation.

“It’s just like if you go to a beach and there are shells. If the wind blows, the sand moves and exposes more shells. But we won’t say the shells are growing there, it’s just that they become visible,” Clarke said.

 

[GlennB]

Oh, there isn't one. OK, then well you will be able to explain to us all exactly what is happening here then. Pray tell, what is your expert, all-knowing, erudite explanation for what can clearly be observed to be happening?

[qimg]https://www.dropbox.com/s/r98l1lumc562jye/MarsOpportunitySol1145-48.jpg?raw=1[/qimg]

Share with us your well-considered scientific explanation as to why the white objects in these two photos taken three sols apart, have suddenly appeared or grown in size.

I can't wait!

Sand blows away, exposing more of the stones and making the originally visible ones appear larger.

Either that, or it's mushrooms growing.

 

[angrysoba]

Oh, there isn't one. OK, then well you will be able to explain to us all exactly what is happening here then. Pray tell, what is your expert, all-knowing, erudite explanation for what can clearly be observed to be happening?

[qimg]https://www.dropbox.com/s/r98l1lumc562jye/MarsOpportunitySol1145-48.jpg?raw=1[/qimg]

Share with us your well-considered scientific explanation as to why the white objects in these two photos taken three sols apart, have suddenly appeared or grown in size.

I can't wait!

Wouldn't the most obvious explanation be wind?

 

[smartcooky]

I'm afraid I don't have a link handy but at least one scientist has said that's just the dust blowing away and exposing more of the rocks.

So, he has evidence of this, or is it just speculation on his part

ETA: BTW has anyone double check that this nutcase has even verified that those two photos are of the exact same spot?

Its appears so.

Opportunity Microscopic Imager: Sol 1145
https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/gallery/all/opportunity_m1145.html

Opportunity Microscopic Imager: Sol 1148
https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/gallery/all/opportunity_m1148.html

 

[smartcooky]

Sand blows away, exposing more of the stones and making the originally visible ones appear larger.

Evidence?

 

[shemp]

Question: If Perseverance encounters more of these, does it have a tool that can be used to touch them and determine if they are soft squishy bodies or if they are hard crystal or rock structures? Also, could it pick one up and see if it's attached to an underground root?

Speculation: Perhaps there is a possibility that these are living organisms that are descended from organisms that lived when Mars had a thicker atmosphere and surface water. Perhaps as Mars lost its atmosphere and surface water over a period of millions of years, some species evolved to the new conditions and survived. This could be a species that has roots that can reach down to subsurface water, and that, during appropriate surface conditions, pushes up a "bulb" than can receive radiation energy. It also perhaps can chemically extract oxygen from perchlorates.

The probability of this is very low of course. But very low is not the same as impossible. I think this warrants further study and data collection.

 

[angrysoba]

So, he has evidence of this, or is it just speculation on his part

The curtain in my room moved.

It is a mystery.

It could be being moved by a ghost

(or it could be the wind, the air conditioning, or even someone behind the curtain)..

Great scene. Is it a sword from God, or did someone just leave it in a field?

 

[GlennB]

Evidence?

The stones get bigger. Meanwhile there's no food for fungi up there, so we can rule fungal growth out (the organic chemicals you mentioned before lack O and N, so are neither carbohydrate nor protein.)

 

[smartcooky]

Question: If Perseverance encounters more of these, does it have a tool that can be used to touch them and determine if they are soft squishy bodies or if they are hard crystal or rock structures? Also, could it pick one up and see if it's attached to an underground root?

Speculation: Perhaps there is a possibility that these are living organisms that are descended from organisms that lived when Mars had a thicker atmosphere and surface water. Perhaps as Mars lost its atmosphere and surface water over a period of millions of years, some species evolved to the new conditions and survived. This could be a species that has roots that can reach down to subsurface water, and that, during appropriate surface conditions, pushes up a "bulb" than can receive radiation energy. It also perhaps can chemically extract oxygen from perchlorates.

The probability of this is very low of course. But very low is not the same as impossible. I think this warrants further study and data collection.

Also, this is course grain sand. Unlike the fine dust on Mars, this does not easilty blow away with the thin Martian atmosphere unable to exert enough force to do so.

 

[RecoveringYuppy]

BTW Josheph's website and link to his book.

www.cosmology.com
https://www.amazon.com/Mars-Evidence-Evolution-Stromatolites-Martians/dp/1938024532

This idiot has seen skulls on Mars. I'm at complete loss as to why anyone would care to take this guy seriously.

 

[RecoveringYuppy]

Question: If Perseverance encounters more of these, does it have a tool that can be used to touch them and determine if they are soft squishy bodies or if they are hard crystal or rock structures? Also, could it pick one up and see if it's attached to an underground root?

People who aren't certifiable nutjobs identified these as hematite rocks 17 years ago.

 

[smartcooky]

The stones get bigger.

So, your claim is that the stones get bigger because the dust blows away, and your supporting evidence for this claim is that the stones get bigger? Really? That's what you're going with?

Doesn't sound very scientific to me. Ever heard of circulus in probando?

Meanwhile there's no food for fungi up there, so we can rule fungal growth out (the organic chemicals you mentioned before lack O and N, so are neither carbohydrate nor protein.)

We have already agreed about that. There is no need to keep repeating it as a means of dodging the questions.

 

[angrysoba]

Also, this is course grain sand. Unlike the fine dust on Mars, this does not easilty blow away with the thin Martian atmosphere unable to exert enough force to do so.

So it must be Aliens because how could wind blow anything around on Mars????

In skepticism the more prosaic explanation is supposed to be favoured over the more fantastical.

 

[angrysoba]

So, your claim is that the stones get bigger because the dust blows away

Oh Jesus! Is that really your understanding of what Glenn said?

, and your supporting evidence for this claim is that the stones get bigger? Really? That's what you're going with?

oh Jesus!

Doesn't sound very scientific to me. Ever heard of circulus in probando?

Not what he is doing, FFS!

 

[GlennB]

So, your claim is that the stones get bigger* because the dust blows away, and your supporting evidence for this claim is that the stones get bigger? Really? That's what you're going with?

Doesn't sound very scientific to me. Ever heard of circulus in probando?

Yes, but it's the only explanation. It's all there is, barring some weird expansion of the substrate pushing them upwards. Either way, they're not fungi.

We have already agreed about that. There is no need to keep repeating it as a means of dodging the questions.

It isn't dodging, it's central. If they can't be fungi then we can rule out fungal growth as an explanation for the apparent increase in size, no?

*eta: To be clear, I'm not suggesting for a moment that the stones get physically bigger, just that more of each one is exposed by the removal of sand, making them appear bigger, while exposing new ones too. It seemed obvious enough to me that that was my gist.

 

[smartcooky]

People who aren't certifiable nutjobs identified these as hematite rocks 17 years ago.

Interesting.

Since Sol 1145 was April 16 2007, and Sol 1148 was April 19 2007, and that was only 14 years ago, that is some feat of ESP there.

Maybe those "people who aren't certifiable nutjobs" should consider claiming Radni's Million Dollar challenge prize.

 

[RecoveringYuppy]

Interesting.

Since Sol 1145 was April 16 2007, and Sol 1148 was April 19 2007, and that was only 14 years ago, that is some feat of ESP there.

Maybe those "people who aren't certifiable nutjobs" should consider claiming Radni's Million Dollar challenge prize.

They'd been seen before. Why are you being such a moron to rescue this moron?

 

[GlennB]

They'd been seen before. Why are you being such a moron to rescue this moron?

Yep. There are many images available, going way back even before the ones under discussion.

A google of mars rover hematite is plenty enough to debunk the fungi idea. Otherwise the place is a veritable mushroom farm (blueberries too)!

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Continuing the discussion if we are having one:

Astrobiology: IRON BLUEBERRIES [on Mars]

The story of water on ancient Mars just got more interesting. Scientists working on the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission announced last week that the small spherules of rock, referred to as "blueberries," embedded in the bedrock outcrop near the Opportunity landing site contain the iron oxide hematite....

Regardless of whether or not crossbedding is evident in the outcrop rocks, says Knoll, "these rocks were never deeply buried. You had to have water very near the surface." In any case, a tremendous volume of water was required to form the hematite-bearing spherules. Even water saturated with a relatively high concentration of iron, such as the water in Spain’s Rio Tinto, actually contains very little iron. So "the amount of water that would be needed to make those hematite nodules is many times the volume of the rock they’re in," said Knoll. On Earth, it would take a considerable volume of groundwater flowing through the rock, for "decades to centuries," to form them.