Watery Mars, again

Hauber et al, in a letter in this week's Nature, count the craters in glacial deposits in a caldera on the northestern flank of Hecates Tholus, a volcano on Mars, and come up with an age of between 5 million and 24 million years... They did this using image data from Mars Express' High Resolution Stereo Camera and from the Mars Orbiter Camera. The upshot: there were glaciers on Mars, in the mid-latitudes, relatively recently—in planetary science terms, 5-24 million years ago is as good as yesterday.

Sure, I know, watery Mars stories are almost a dime a dozen these days. Thought I'd point it out anyway because it really does suggest very strongly there's water ice there—and lots—still just below the surface. The letter points out that CO₂ just isn't a likely culprit given the latitude, and given the appearance of the surface (significant sublimation of the ice below hasn't eaten away the surface features), there's no reason to think the ice isn't still present.

Ver' neat. Interesting both in terms of the possible explanation (the time of deposit is about the same as a time the obliquity of Mars' axis was higher, which might explain climate changes permitting water ice on the surface in mid-latitudes), and ramifications for exploration (water ice near the surface would be awfully useful, if we ever want to send anything to Mars that actually needs water to function... like, say, ourselves).

And though there's no mention of it, every single one of these stories always makes me wonder: if Mars' climate really is so close to ours (and that is pretty close, in planetary terms), and liquid water really might have been possible for extended periods at some point in the past, I still find myself thinking: we might still find evidence for life there, whether or not there's anything actually alive still present. Always been one of those who thinks the origin of life is a bit more likely than most seem to; it certainly seems to have taken off here pretty much as soon as the crust had cooled enough. Crossing my fingers.

Postscript: looking at it further, the Hauber et al correspondence actually suggests one of the least dramatic results: apparently there are also images suggesting that glaciation may also have been occurring on the surface at the base of Olympus Mons as little as 4 million years ago, and evidence even for a frozen water body approximately the size of the North Sea at as little as 3 million BP—the latter in a paper by Murray et al, same issue. The Murray et al thing is the real eye-opener, to me—not the least because they suggest such lakes might still, conceivably, exist (the fact that they might once have existed, and so recently, isn't, apparently, particularly new). And yes, they do mention the possibilities for finding evidence for primitive life in such formations.

Why my book is wonderful, take seven

Because: when you take the first word out of every sixth sentence in the first chapter and run the Vigenere algorithm on the result, using the keyword 'Occam', it spells out the phrase "Michael Drosnin is a schmuck".

Karma payable

This is just a short note to those who know us well enough to know who these people be to say the lovely Donna and the divine Michel dropped by yesterday with a gift of some pre-prepared meals, and a note to the effect that they figured parents with newborns at home after the first month or so still might be able to use a little help, so they thought they'd do their bit to make our lives a bit simpler a bit longer... so could anyone who feels so inclined please make a note that there is karma payable here, and treat them like the wonderful human beings they are the next time you see them... And, to say, really, that the same thanks goes out as well to all of you who sent best wishes, gifts, flowers, cards and the like. Thanks so much; it's all much appreciated.

Yes, still kickin'

I'm still around. Jes' a mite tired. Business trips, infants in the house. Showing up at the office, now and then. It all adds up. Been a bit short of time for posting; all apologies.

I have begun a nice, book-length (or so) rant on the corrosive celebration of humiliation that is reality TV; this inspired in part by watching The Truman Show the other evening while getting the littlest one to sleep, and in part by the commercials for various Japanese-influenced 'stunt/game' shows that occasionally flit past in the commercial breaks, and, in part, by the fact that one beautifully lucid verbal explosion from one Chad C. Mulligan of Stand on Zanzibar fame has been echoing on my frontal lobes going on most of a decade now... and the fact that I was pretty damned sleep-deprived the other night when the idea came to me... but it's probably gonna be a few days before it sees the light of blog.

The light of blog. Hmmm. Another one of those odd contradictions, on first glance. See also "the talent of John Tesh". Or "the wisdom of Ann Coulter." Or... wait... wait... I know... "the comic genius of Paulie Shore..."

Find myself agreeing with the folk over at Rox Populi. Blog is an awful noun. So who out there can come up with something snappy--preferably one syllable--that conveys the very spirit of blogville... that mix of the vapid, the wise, the pointless, the shrill, the clever, and the merely truly strange that is this world?

That's right. I want it all in one word. By Wednesday, at the latest. Thankee (tips hat).