# Life on Mars, wasting time or no? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 2, 2003, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-wasting-time-or-no/179174 "2003-06-02T18:10:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![GOM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5f9b8f/32.png) [@GOM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GOM)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-wasting-time-or-no/179174/81 "2003-06-10T16:20:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ElbaliavanU \* > \*\*1. I’m not sure that scientists would go nuts over that, considering that the life was from earth anyway… > > 1. How fast do you think the microscopic life went from earth to Mars? (I am asking this as a serious question, I’m NOT trying to mock you) > > 2. Because all life needs oxygen to live, and if the microscopic life forms traveled realtively slow, they would eventually suffocate on their journey. > > 3. If it doesnt matter we’ll probably find something dead that was originally fom earth, and wasn’t originally on Mars when God created it. \*\* 1. You might be surprised. If they do find life, I think a strong attempt will be made to spin that news into more proof of “evolution”. 2. Don’t know. Don’t even know anyone who has the answer to that. Don’t know of any practical way to test my hypothesis. My best guess is that it would take years. 3. Well. Are you familiar with the panspermia hypothesis? Evolutionists like it because they realize abiogenesis never happened on Earth. Make that **some** evolutionists. There are probably some evolutionists who don’t like panspermia… 4. Here I urge caution. I accept what is in the Bible. The Bible tells us nothing about Mars. We should not go beyond what the Bible says. I have no way of knowing what God did, or did not do, with the planet Mars. He could have created life there also. Just my two cents on that. ---
**Author:** ![GOM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5f9b8f/32.png) [@GOM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GOM)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-wasting-time-or-no/179174/82 "2003-06-10T16:44:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by clairobscur \* > \*\* > > It seems incredibly unlikely that any martian germ would be, out of pure luck (as opposed to as a result of millions of years of coexistence), able to interfere in any way with life on earth (assuming that it would even be able to survive in so drastically different conditions), or the reverse. \*\* Since we don’t know, it would be wise to be cautious. If germs from Earth got blasted over to Mars thousands of years ago they could be pretty nasty little bugs by now, considering the harsh environment they have had to survive in. Bringing them back to Earth could turn out to be like letting a fox loose in a chicken coop. Thorough isolation and testing is the best move. To assume an unknown germ is harmless could be a fatal mistake ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-wasting-time-or-no/179174/83 "2003-06-10T18:21:38Z")
It doesn’t quite work like that, but if any Martian bugs live in micro-environments that are in any way similar to - say the interior of uor gut or bloodstream, then we could be in for trouble. It is unlikely, but just remotely possible. Oh, and IANATheologian, but surely nothing in the Bible rules out life on other planets? Doesn’t it say something about many mansions? * * * SF worldbuilding at [http://www.orionsarm.com/main.html](http://www.orionsarm.com/main.html) ---
**Author:** ![InquisitiveIdiot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3ec8ea/32.png) [@InquisitiveIdiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InquisitiveIdiot)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-wasting-time-or-no/179174/84 "2003-06-10T20:41:36Z")
Or if, working under the assumption that life needs water, there exists a virulent martian organism that creates a highly concentrated excretion, sucking the water from other organisms via diffusion. That would be nasty. ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-wasting-time-or-no/179174/85 "2003-06-10T21:30:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tuckerfan \* > \*\*Actually, we could find out if the dodo’s DNA was valuable since we’ve got samples. That’s how we found out that they were giant pidgeons. As for Martian baterial DNA containing the cure for some Earthly disease, that possibility is even _more_ unlikely than there even being life on Mars. \*\* The Dodo DNA we have sucks, we can’t do much of anything with it and it is pretty much useless in scientific research for determining what it does differently from regular pigeon DNA and how that can be useful. and remote the possibility may be, but you never know. and it is also likely it could cure Martian diseases, cuz if there are bacteria running around, who knows what else might be lurking beneath the sand. it is best to have the highest genetic diversity possible, you never know what the future may bring (aliens who want to conquor earth but are deathly afraid of anyone who can kill their God, who looks suspiciously like a dodo? too bad we killed them all already! 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![ElbaliavanU](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@ElbaliavanU](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElbaliavanU)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2003, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-wasting-time-or-no/179174/86 "2003-06-12T20:35:05Z")
:smack: That’s funny… I forgot not ALL life needs oxygen… Lol. However… I do think that if the stuff from earth traveled to Mars, it would suffocate anyway… That’s just my opinion, not facts. 🙂 [QUOTE] \*Originally posted by eburacum45 \* Oh, and IANATheologian, but surely nothing in the Bible rules out life on other planets? Doesn’t it say something about many mansions? [QUOTE] Yes, the Bible says something about many mansions. Here they are talking about heaven, not Mars… Heaven doesn’t physically exist. It spiritually exists. It’s hard to fathom… I hope I answered your question 🙂 > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GOM \* > > 1. You might be surprised. If they do find life, I think a strong attempt will be made to spin that news into more proof of “evolution”. That’s true. Evolution… :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![ElbaliavanU](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@ElbaliavanU](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElbaliavanU)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2003, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-wasting-time-or-no/179174/87 "2003-06-12T20:39:13Z")
Lol. I can’t quite get that quote thing down… Btw, thanks to all who are debating about this nicely… In other debates people have gotten all mad @ me and thought I was trolling. ---
**Author:** ![Petter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/dbc845/32.png) [@Petter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petter)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2003, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-wasting-time-or-no/179174/88 "2003-06-14T12:20:04Z")
I can’t imagine [why](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&postid=3527456#post3527456) they’d [think](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&postid=3534658#post3534658) that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-wasting-time-or-no/179174.md?page=4)