The case for life on mars grows each day

[chequita guevara]

Infectious bacteria are extremely specialized life-forms. While you might see them jump from similar organism, a bacterium that eats oil, for example, won't cause harm to a human. All infections organisms have specific specializations to get past life's natural defenses. Alien microscopic life if highly unlikely to have just the right amino acid strcutures or enzymes to evade our defenses and infect us.

[Kuciwalker]

Hell, it wouldn't recognize us.

Plus, there isn't any reason there would BE infectious bacteria on Mars - what would they infect?

[chequita guevara]

Exactly.

[chequita guevara]

Now single-celled protozoa can be dangerous, even though they aren't designed to be infectious. There aren't any of those on Mars.

[chequita guevara]

I think the RED planet should be renamed Marx.

[JohnT]

Why name it after a loser?

Might as well name it Planet Dukakis, for all that matters.

[Flandrien]

Originally posted by alva


[let's say there are microbes out there]
They could travel on asteroids too, not need to get paranoid over this...

Any samples from Mars should be handled with extreme care.
Not to avoid contimating yourself, but to avoid contaminating the samples.

[Kuciwalker]

Obviously.

[Mercator]

But those bacteria don't necessarily have to attack us to be dangerous, do they? How about bacteria that do nasty things to water or oxygen? They'd be very limited on Mars, simply because there's little water. On Earth they could explode because of the sheer abundance of it and wreak havoc on the environment.

[chequita guevara]

Any Martian bacteria would likely be very slow metabolizing critters, so runaway pop growth shouldn't be a problem.

[alva]

Originally posted by Flandrien

Any samples from Mars should be handled with extreme care.
Not to avoid contimating yourself, but to avoid contaminating the samples.

Notice the word 'paranoid'.

[Dis]

Originally posted by Giancarlo


OMFG.. so it is true.. not. *opens DVD for Mars Attack, the worst movie ever, tosses it in garbage*

that movie rocked!

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Any Martian bacteria would likely be very slow metabolizing critters, so runaway pop growth shouldn't be a problem.

Rate of metabolism isn't usually hardcoded for microbes but rather depends upon availbility of nutrients and the efficiency of their enzymes. On the other hand, it seems probable that the martian microbes would be fairly heat intolerant since temperatures never exceed 60 farenheit on mars.

The real reason I can't see them being a serious threat is that they've had so long to hitch a ride on an asteroid and contaminate earth already.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Mercator
But those bacteria don't necessarily have to attack us to be dangerous, do they? How about bacteria that do nasty things to water or oxygen? They'd be very limited on Mars, simply because there's little water. On Earth they could explode because of the sheer abundance of it and wreak havoc on the environment.

Why would they do that?

They'd probably die just because of our atmosphere's conditions.

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker


Why would they do that?

They'd probably die just because of our atmosphere's conditions.

absolutely! An oxgen atmosphere is deadly to just about any microbe that hasn't evolved elaborate mechanisms for dealing with it. I should have thought of that straight away.