# Methane + Rocks = Mars **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 4, 2005, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/methane-rocks-mars/306924 "2005-06-04T20:21:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/methane-rocks-mars/306924/1 "2005-06-04T20:21:26Z")
[Life as we know it, may not be responsible for it, after all.](http://www.newscientistspace.com/article/dn7463-cold-dry-and-lifeless--a-new-take-on-mars.html) > [@](#): > > New research on a green mineral that degrades easily in water and is present over much of the Martian surface is fuelling debates over the history of water and the current existence of life on the Red planet. > > One study reveals that a region rich in the mineral olivine - which suggests it is has been “dry” for about 3 billion years - is actually four times larger than previously thought. That adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting Mars was mostly cold and dry - and not warm and wet - in the past. > > The second study asserts that subsurface reactions of olivine and water could produce enough methane to account for recent observations of the gas in the atmosphere, removing the need to invoke living microbes to do the job. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/methane-rocks-mars/306924/2 "2005-06-04T20:41:46Z")
shit. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/methane-rocks-mars/306924/3 "2005-06-04T20:45:57Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > shit. Nope, there’s none of that there, either. Can’t have shit without life, I’m afraid (or is the other way around?). ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/methane-rocks-mars/306924/4 "2005-06-05T03:49:36Z")
☹ indeed. I would really like for there to be life on Mars. I’m not sure why, but I think the solar system would be a cooler place if there were. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Dirx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b77776/32.png) [@Sir\_Dirx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Dirx)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/methane-rocks-mars/306924/5 "2005-06-05T14:48:01Z")
Well, there’s still Europa. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/methane-rocks-mars/306924/6 "2005-06-05T14:58:55Z")
> [@Sir Dirx](#): > > Well, there’s still Europa. And Roswell 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/methane-rocks-mars/306924/7 "2005-06-06T21:57:10Z")
That explains why they don’t taste as good as the used to, and I’m sure they’ve got smaller as well. ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/methane-rocks-mars/306924/8 "2005-06-07T14:16:19Z")
No, nothing going on here at all. The daytime TV sucks too.