Science Literature

The quest for life on Mars is unabated. There is a hunger for news: even finding water is heralded as a major find - it is a though water is half-way to finding living things! Today, The Sun newspaper published a story with the headline: "Nasa reveals life on Mars" and the tagline: "ALIEN bugs are responsible for strong plumes of methane gas detected on Mars, it was claimed tonight." This story would be big news, if it were true. However, the journalism exhibited here does not convey the research findings at all well.

For several years, it has been known that methane is a component of the Martian atmosphere, and it is also known that this situation is not stable. There are various mechanisms for removing the methane and so there must be a mechanism for renewing the gas. The research paper reports on observed releases of methane, confirming that these occur and also carrying the implication that oxidising agents in the crustal materials is a big factor in methane degradation.

The research does not reveal the source of this methane. The researchers keep the options open: it could be linked to microbial life, but it could be geochemical.

"Thus, the presence of significant methane would require recent release from sub-surface reservoirs; the ultimate origin of this methane is uncertain, but it could be abiotic or biotic."
and:
"Both geochemical and biological origins have been explored, but no consensus has emerged".

The excitement over Mars not being a dead planet can be traced to the Nasa Press Release, which has these words:

Indeed it looks like Mars has been cold and dry for billions of years, with an atmosphere so thin, any liquid water on the surface quickly boils away while the sun's ultraviolet radiation scorches the ground. The situation sounds bleak, but research published today in Science Express reveals new hope for the Red Planet. The first definitive detection of methane in the atmosphere of Mars indicates that Mars is still alive, in either a biologic or geologic sense, according to a team of NASA and university scientists.

This description of Mars as "alive" has stimulated interest worldwide. The Sun story goes on to qualify its eye-catching headline with "NASA scientists say the gas emissions could have either a geological or biological source" but makes it clear that some of the researchers favour the biological explanation:

Scientist Michael Mumma of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center said: "This raises the probability substantially that life was there or still survives at the present. We think the probability is much higher now based on this evidence."

A more judicious comment comes from Ian Sample at The Guardian Science Blog. His headline is "Has NASA found life on Mars?" and he comments:

"If a newspaper headline ends in a question mark, the answer is almost always "no". And so it is in this case. Later today, NASA scientists will announce they have detected enormous releases of methane from Mars. Could it be evidence of martian life? Undoubtedly yes. Is it proof of life on Mars? Certainly not."

The scoop that was not a scoop (source here)

ID comments on this topic range from Fuz Rana's (2005) emphasis on geochemical sources of methane, to DaveScot's advocacy of directed panspermia at Uncommon Descent, and Denyse O'Leary's observations at Colliding Universes on the need to raise funds for future Nasa missions. At this stage, further comment would be speculative, but ID scientists are looking forward to evaluating further findings as they are published.

Strong Release of Methane on Mars in Northern Summer 2003
Michael J. Mumma, Geronimo L. Villaneuva, Robert E. Novak, Tilak Hewagama, Boncho P. Bonev, Michael A. DiSanti, Avi M. Mandell, and Michael D. Smith
Science Express, Published online January 15 2009; 10.1126/science.1165243

Living systems produce more than 90% of Earth's atmospheric methane; the balance is of geochemical origin. On Mars, methane could be a signature of either origin. Using high-dispersion infrared spectrometers at three ground-based telescopes, we measured methane and water vapor simultaneously on Mars over several longitude intervals in (northern) early- and late-summer 2003 and near vernal equinox 2006. When present, methane occurred in extended plumes and the maxima of latitudinal profiles imply that the methane was released from discrete regions. At northern mid-summer, the principal plume contained ~19,000 metric tons of methane and the estimated source strength (>=0.6 kg s-1) was comparable to that of the massive hydrocarbon seep at Coal Oil Point (Santa Barbara, CA).

See also:

The Red Planet is Not a Dead Planet, NASA Press Release, Jan. 15, 2009:

Nasa reveals life on Mars, The Sun (16 January 2009)