Monday, August 11, 2008





Scientist claims Mars has 'contemporary' life

"The discovery of liquid water on Mars combined with earlier discoveries of organic substances in a meteorite that came from Mars, and also of methane in the Martian atmosphere all point to the existence of life -- contemporary life -- on the Red Planet," said Chandra Wickramasinghe, a globally renowned astrobiologist.

"I am not speaking of fossilized life but contemporary life," emphasised Wickramasinghe, who is professor of applied mathematics and astronomy at the University of Cardiff in Wales.

Wickramasinghe, a student and collaborator of the late British astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle, spoke to London-based Sri Lankan diplomat and journalist Walter Jayawardhana, who made the text of the interview available to IANS.


I've said something to this effect before, but if Mars doesn't have life, then what we think we know about organic chemistry will require fundamental revision.

In any case, I fully expect Nick Bostrom to be very disappointed sometime in the foreseeable future.

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