Martian Gullies Not Carved by Water

Bad news for the search for liquid water on Mars.  The gullies that up to now were believed to have formed through the flow of liquid water were actually created by dry ice.  These gullies tend to grow and be active during the winter, and winter on Mars is far too cold for liquid water to be doing anything remotely close to the surface.

We thought these gullies were formed by liquid water because that's how they're formed on Earth, and it only made sense that a geologic feature on Mars that looks exactly like a geologic feature on Earth would be made through the same process.  Dry ice can create the same sort of gullies, and it is far more likely that the gullies form through dry ice activity.  Sublimation loosens the ground, triggering avalanches, while also reducing the friction between particles, causing them to flow more easily.

There is still hope for liquid water on Mars today.  There is another kind of feature called recurring slope lineae, dark streaks running down slopes.  These form over the summer, making it more likely they are created through the activity of liquid water.

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Alien Life Will Be Difficult to Find

It will be a long time before we find life like this.

We are very near the point, technologically speaking, where mankind will be able to find life on another world, whether on a far-off exoplanet or within our own solar system.  However, actually finding it will be a formidable challenge.  The problem is simple, and best said in my favorite book, "Space is big.  You won't believe just how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is.  I mean you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space."

Even looking for life within our solar system is difficult.  Take Europa.  There's an ocean underneath the icy surface that very likely hosts some sort of life.  However, there's no guarantee that life inhabits the entire ocean, and since scientists predict that Europa probably has even more water than Earth, we might not even find life on our first visit, which is looking like it will happen in about ten years.  We've been looking for life on Mars for years now, and we haven't gotten anywhere with that either.  We can't even say that life on Mars is unlikely, because we've explored so little of the planet, and life could be hiding in so many places.  So, even though the technology is there, actually finding life may take a while.  It's important to be patient with this sort of science.

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