20/01: How's that again?
So there’s zero details on this—so far just this blurb in the New Scientist (NB: not to be taken as authoritative, and now and then given to this sorta blurry rumour stuff), but the rumour is that one Jean-Philippe Beaulieu of the Paris Astrophysical Institute announced at a meeting of the RAS in London that exoplanet MOA-2007-BLG-192-L b may, in fact, be lighter than previously reported: his new figure is it may be a mere 1.4 Earth masses…
Taking this to ramifications is probably getting a bit ahead of the game, right now. But still, cool news.
Taking this to ramifications is probably getting a bit ahead of the game, right now. But still, cool news.
They’ve pinpointed some methane plumes on Mars.
Background: on Earth, you see stuff like this, it usually means living methanogens, deep, deep down. Those have been around a while, and are the sort of extremophiles (as in, we consider the sort of places they live extremely inhospitable, thus: extremophiles) that could plausibly have persisted over the few gigayears that have gone past since Mars last had abundant water on its surface…
Yes, there are abiotic ways for the methane to turn up. But in the pull quote of the day, do keep in mind:
I believe this is my cue to pour a glass of Bushmills.
(Via Pharyngula.)
Background: on Earth, you see stuff like this, it usually means living methanogens, deep, deep down. Those have been around a while, and are the sort of extremophiles (as in, we consider the sort of places they live extremely inhospitable, thus: extremophiles) that could plausibly have persisted over the few gigayears that have gone past since Mars last had abundant water on its surface…
Yes, there are abiotic ways for the methane to turn up. But in the pull quote of the day, do keep in mind:
Lisa Pratt says methane from rock (serpentinization) is rare on Earth and actually plugs up active sites. This is why she takes biology seriously as “slightly more plausible.”
I believe this is my cue to pour a glass of Bushmills.
(Via Pharyngula.)
