Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story (archive 1) (archive 2):
As scientists scramble to determine whether there is life on Mars, Ohio University Professor Emeritus William Romoser's research shows that we already have the evidence, courtesy of photographs from various Mars rovers.
[...] Romoser said that while the Martian rovers, particularly the Curiosity Rover, have been looking for indicators of organic activity, there are a number of photos which clearly depict the insect- and reptile-like forms. Numerous photos show images where arthropod body segments, along with legs, antennae and wings, can be picked out from the surrounding area, and one even appears to show one of the insects in a steep dive before pulling up just before hitting the ground.
Individual images were carefully studied while varying photographic parameters such as brightness, contrast, saturation, inversion, and so on. No content was added, or removed. Criteria used in Romoser's research included: Dramatic departure from the surroundings, clarity of form, body symmetry, segmentation of body parts, repeating form, skeletal remains, and observation of forms in close proximity to one another. Particular postures, evidence of motion, flight, apparent interaction as suggested by relative positions, and shiny eyes were taken to be consistent with the presence of living forms.
"Once a clear image of a given form was identified and described, it was useful in facilitating recognition of other less clear, but none-the-less valid, images of the same basic form," Romoser said. "An exoskeleton and jointed appendages are sufficient to establish identification as an arthropod. Three body regions, a single pair of antennae, and six legs are traditionally sufficient to establish identification as 'insect' on Earth. These characteristics should likewise be valid to identify an organism on Mars as insect-like. On these bases, arthropodan, insect-like forms can be seen in the Mars rover photos."
Distinct flight behavior was evident in many images, Romoser said. These creatures loosely resemble bumble bees or carpenter bees on Earth. Other images show these "bees" appearing to shelter or nest in caves. And others show a fossilized creature that resembles a snake.
takyon: The article has been eliminated with extreme prejudice:
It's Still Not Aliens: 'Mars Bug' Claim Could Damage the Search for Life
University Deletes Press Release Claiming Evidence of Bugs on Mars
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 20 2019, @06:55PM (5 children)
Look at the first image. The images of Cydonia (face + pyramids) are 100x more compelling than this.
(Score: 5, Funny) by ikanreed on Wednesday November 20 2019, @07:19PM (4 children)
Please, if the internet has taught me anything, it's that you can always trust blurry images with things circled in red in ms paint to be real facts.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Freeman on Wednesday November 20 2019, @08:02PM (3 children)
Insert, picture of a politician's brain, with a red circle around it. I'm having trouble finding any pictures though. Must not exist.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 20 2019, @08:37PM
So far we have only observed a civil servant:
https://www.ocregister.com/2007/07/23/tiny-brain-proves-no-problem-for-french-bureaucrat/ [ocregister.com]
Seriously though, the importance of the size of the brain is way overblown.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Thexalon on Wednesday November 20 2019, @10:35PM
They were replaced with electronic ones a long time ago. A simple one sufficed: It just says "What?" and "I do not recall."
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Wednesday November 20 2019, @10:51PM
No red circles, but lots of wide black marker outlines. Also large hand printed talking points.
https://www.vox.com/2019/11/20/20974383/trump-big-sharpie-notes-on-impeachment-testimony [vox.com]
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 20 2019, @06:56PM
Go all the way, Bigfoot is on mars!
https://www.cnet.com/news/skull-seen-on-mars-will-make-your-imagination-run-wild/ [cnet.com]
(Score: 1) by Jay on Wednesday November 20 2019, @06:57PM (6 children)
Who let grandpa and his crackpot theories even speak on this, let alone write some sort of article?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 20 2019, @07:11PM
Actually, I was wondering what the guy was trying to sell. A new book, perhaps?
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Wednesday November 20 2019, @07:22PM (1 child)
The Entomological Society of America, according to the article.
You can get much further with a crackpot theory and tenure than just a crackpot theory.
(Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Thursday November 21 2019, @12:34AM
Ah yes, The Al Capone of science!
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday November 20 2019, @07:34PM
Who let him off his meds?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 20 2019, @08:00PM (1 child)
I want some of whatever they're smoking.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Wednesday November 20 2019, @08:16PM
Roaches, probably.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 3, Funny) by NotSanguine on Wednesday November 20 2019, @07:10PM (5 children)
It's amazing. This is historic and proves once and for all that there is life on other planets!
These amazing animals are right next to the canals [wikipedia.org]. If you look at the photos, you can see the gondola ferrying Dejah Thoris [wikipedia.org] to the palace at Helium too.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 3, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday November 20 2019, @11:56PM (4 children)
Did her.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @01:51AM (3 children)
Who hasn't?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @03:22AM (2 children)
Now I'm confused. We talking about had her or did her?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @07:26AM
I guess at least you haven't.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @10:41AM
Had her == Did her == Rooted [urbandictionary.com] her
Sorry. Forgot you didn't speak English. :)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 20 2019, @07:38PM (4 children)
Sand Kings
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Wednesday November 20 2019, @07:43PM (3 children)
Can't disagree on the count of the words. Way too lazy to look them up to see if they mean anything though.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Wednesday November 20 2019, @07:48PM (2 children)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandkings_(novelette) [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sandkings [wikipedia.org]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBCG5AMrKQ0 [youtube.com]
You're welcome.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Wednesday November 20 2019, @07:58PM (1 child)
Uh-oh. Turns out that they were wrong about it being two words.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 20 2019, @08:08PM
1. The
2. Sandkings
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 20 2019, @08:12PM (1 child)
He is from Ohio? He probably got his degree because his religion allowed him to claim all his bullshit crackpottery is correct.
(Score: 2) by Fnord666 on Wednesday November 20 2019, @09:13PM
Well it is hi in the middle and round on both ends....
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Wednesday November 20 2019, @08:13PM
I for one welcome our new Martian insect overlords.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 20 2019, @08:13PM (12 children)
Mars barely has an atmosphere compared to earth. Unless you are arguing that it had a thicker atmosphere a long time ago .... ?
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Wednesday November 20 2019, @08:19PM (10 children)
it might have had a thicker atmosphere when it had a molten core and a magnetic field. There was liquid water on the surface at some time in the past. Solar wind blew away whatever atmosphere it had.
But there is no way yet to know if there was enough atmosphere for insects, much less single cell organisms. Regardless of blurry pictures with circles in drawn with mspaint might claim.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 20 2019, @11:41PM (9 children)
BS. Venus doesn't have a magnetic field, is subject to stronger solar wind (because it is closer to the sun) and has a very thick atmosphere.
Did anyone even think about this explanation? It doesn't pass the slightest examination, you immediately need to start coming up with ad hoc explanations for Venus...
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday November 21 2019, @01:34AM (4 children)
Gravity has a lot to do with it. Mars was always too small to hold onto a permanent atmosphere for as long as Venus or Terra, and its smaller size meant a smaller core that had less total heat to begin with.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @04:10AM (3 children)
So this whole "theory" only fits an n of 1 then? If you have just the exact properties of mars the solar wind will strip your atmosphere, otherwise not?
Titan has very low gravity, is much colder, and no magnetic field. But it has a thicker atmosphere than Earth.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday November 21 2019, @04:33PM (2 children)
And it's also much further away from the Sun. Plus the fact that it *is* colder means the root mean square velocity of any given molecule in its atmosphere is lower, so even if Titan has lower escape velocity than Mars, less of the atmosphere is in an energetic state that would allow it to escape.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @07:55PM (1 child)
The point is that the variables are accumulating and you are making up new excuses for each new object. It is a pointless model with the available data.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday November 21 2019, @08:13PM
So you don't like science because it's hard? Cry me a river, build me a bridge, jump off the bridge, and drown in the river of your own tears.
Let's hear your hypothesis then, brainiac :D
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @01:58AM (3 children)
Venus has almost three times Mars' gravity, and its atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide. The UV dissociates molecules, and the H is what blows away. The O, N, and C atoms are heavy enough that they mostly don't hit escape velocity with a single particle impact from the solar wind. https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/File:gravity_wells.png [explainxkcd.com]
There is still atmosphere loss, but it is very slow, like Earth's.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @04:12AM (2 children)
And titan? What is your ad hoc explanation for that one?
It seems there is a unique explanation for every object. That is called overfitting, there is no predictive skill behind this model.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @05:17AM
I predict that an Earth sized world, in an orbit of less than 90 million km, around a Sol-type star, will develop a very thick predominately CO2 atmosphere.
Wow. I'm batting 100%.
(Score: 2) by Muad'Dave on Thursday November 21 2019, @12:24PM
Only a guess, but the solar wind is much less intense at 9.54 AU (Saturn) than at 1.52 AU (Mars) due to the 1/r^2 rule. That's about 1/40th the flux at Saturn than at Mars.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday November 20 2019, @08:33PM
It almost certainly had a thicker atmosphere in the past, as the solar wind has been stripping the atmosphere away.
How much thicker is questionable. But if there was liquid water on the surface, then I think it must have been substantially thicker.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by istartedi on Wednesday November 20 2019, @08:48PM (2 children)
I haven't found the full paper with all the images yet, but here's another link. [ndtv.com] that shows a different image. Oh... here we are. [dropbox.com], the motherload of images, if not the full paper; but that's as far as I care to go. I'm with the majority here who are not the least bit convinced that this is anything other than the tendency of humans and/or AI programs to find what they're looking for.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 20 2019, @10:39PM
Thanks! Lol so blurry not quite sure how these scale properly. I'm gonna pass on this one :P
(Score: 2) by edIII on Thursday November 21 2019, @01:06AM
I'm more convinced over these images than I am of Cydonia, et al. Although no definitive conclusions can be made, unlike black holes, this is something that can be answered in our life times with an appropriate expedition.
There is enough evidence and reasonable assumptions here to warrant a rover trying to pack up a candidate and send it home.
I don't think it's impossible for life to have evolved on Mars at some point. It had an atmosphere and more than likely water on the surface. What's exciting about it is that it's reasonably close enough to us for science to actually answer the questions.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by ilsa on Wednesday November 20 2019, @08:59PM (7 children)
Lets see... probably some crackpot putting way too much interpretation into very blurry photos of what could be much more easily explained by a simple rock formation or a different kind of rock. Maybe something churned up via tectonic forces, or whatever.
*opens "article"*
Yup. Right. Could these people at least put some effort into their nonsense? This stuff has gotten so predictable that's just boring now. If he had said he discovered a mineral-based life form that looks like a unicorn who insists he be called Herbert, at least reading the article would have been entertaining.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday November 20 2019, @09:18PM (6 children)
If Rosomer is serious, I feel sorry for the old boy. Likely that senile ravings of this sort is why the university made him "emeritus". Even without looking at the pictures, it sure didn't pass the smell test. On Earth, took something like 3 billion years for multicellular life to evolve. If Mars has or ever had life, it is very likely microbial, and never got any further.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 20 2019, @10:33PM (5 children)
And yet he is still allowed to vote.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 20 2019, @11:45PM (4 children)
I think everyone should be offered a choice:
1) Have $100 dollars (or more, or less, and inflation adjust it), no questions asked
2) Vote however you want
Then only people who care enough will vote, and it should cut down on people voting themselves free shit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @02:55AM (3 children)
So you want to give everybody $100 and charge a $100 poll tax.
Unfortunately for your scheme, it's been established that poll taxes are racist because only whites have money.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @04:15AM (2 children)
Poll tax? People on this site have some serious reading comprehension issues, they just make up whatever the strawman they want to argue with and say someone else said it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @05:08AM (1 child)
You're deluded if you think SCOTUS is going to pretend "you must pay $100 to vote" and "you must forgo receiving $100 to vote" are two completely unrelated propositions.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Muad'Dave on Thursday November 21 2019, @12:28PM
Here's something along those lines that has been determined to be different.
In the US, credit card companies have terms in their contracts with vendors that accept credit cards that says that the vendor can't tack on a surcharge when a customer uses a credit card. So what do clever vendors do? Offer a discount for cash. Same result, but technically legal.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday November 20 2019, @11:27PM
This is really bad. Not necessarily because an entomologist wanted to speculate about blurry rocks, but because of statements like "There has been and still is life on Mars." Too bad the rover didn't zoom in more on these spooky rocks.
Also, you can't blame Phys.org for this. It's Ohio University [wikipedia.org]:
https://www.ohio.edu/news/2019/11/ohio-entomologist-photos-show-evidence-life-mars [ohio.edu]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Rupert Pupnick on Thursday November 21 2019, @12:30AM (1 child)
Is this a new low for phys.org?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday November 22 2019, @05:58PM
They probably reprint a lot of these automatically. It's Mars Uni... I mean, Ohio University that is to blame.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday November 21 2019, @01:13AM
and its like Charlie Brown said: "I got a rock."
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @01:38AM
and why is an entomologist stationed there?
(Score: 3, Informative) by KritonK on Thursday November 21 2019, @10:43AM
There is a word for this: pareidolia [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by jmichaelhudsondotnet on Thursday November 21 2019, @11:58AM (6 children)
What are the chance exploratory flying robots are not on mars? Id say there is about a 75% chance that some military agency has tiny flying robots running their own surveys, maybe by the hundreds.
I think this % is somewhat higher than actual bugs freely roaming mars. But if there are bugs in the sahara, it should at least be concievable.
What we should also find interesting is that this 'there are pictures' but 'where are they', problem is something that should not be a problem.
Getting a digital image from mars to the human public of earth should not be so difficult nowadays eh? I thought we had solved this.
Unless the trust problem is somehow getting in the way of everything working, not unlike copyright.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday November 21 2019, @12:13PM (5 children)
The first exploratory flying robot to be sent to Mars will be the JPL Mars Helicopter Scout [wikipedia.org] in 2020-2021. Any other flying robots on Mars are purely fictional.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by jmichaelhudsondotnet on Friday November 22 2019, @02:33PM (4 children)
Have you ever heard of the military doing things first and then later publicizing them through science?
I am also quite certain that if they were doing this sort of thing, they would not be talking about it, and there would be a huge 'mars robo-scout arms race gap' underway.
I sure have. I am not saying I am sure this is what he buzzing thing was, but this is 2019 and things are wierd.
Only 3 options, fake picture, bug, or robot. I don't really care all that much, all three of these possibilities exist in my world, but that insects are on mars, is of these three the one most difficult for me to believe at the present moment.
There is also the ender's game idea, but interplanetary, not interstellar-ly. What if the new playstation game was about flying a ship on a different planet and hunting down other ships on a huge world AND THEN it turned out later that you had been piloting robo-bugs on mars in a real robo-bug war?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday November 22 2019, @05:55PM (3 children)
There's almost zero value to the military to explore Mars right now. Even the concept of exploring Mars using a flying robot is very new. Mars atmospheric density is less than 1% of Earth's, making flight much more difficult and explaining why the MHS will only be able to fly for minutes at a time.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by jmichaelhudsondotnet on Saturday November 23 2019, @04:36PM (2 children)
Hm, I did not know that.
Seems that also works against the insect theory, as it throws off the whole energy/thrust/mass equation into bonkers territory.
Of course, if there are not aliens, or something like replicators from SG1.
But I can agree at least that the chances of this not being a camera problem are slim.
That's what you think it is right?
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Saturday November 23 2019, @08:51PM
I think pareidolia [wikipedia.org] is the explanation. Bonus for using crappy, blurry images as the basis of his research.
As an entomologist speaking at the Entomological Society of America, Romoser can backtrack and just claim he was trying to educate/amuse about insect shapes.
Now, here's something interesting. The Phys.org TFA has been 404'd, as has the actual Ohio University post [ohio.edu]. These articles have been rolled out elsewhere:
It's Still Not Aliens: 'Mars Bug' Claim Could Damage the Search for Life [space.com]
University Deletes Press Release Claiming Evidence of Bugs on Mars [futurism.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 25 2019, @02:40AM
I guy used to looking at bugs all day sees bugs in blurry pictures. Just like the guy used to seeing government conspiracies everywhere sees government conspiracies in the same blurry pictures. People see what they want to see as they fill in the gaps of missing information with their own background. Sadly, or maybe thankfully, life is usually rather mundane, which means the answer is probably equally mundane. Now feel free to blow me off or accuse me of doing the same thing with my mundane life and background.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @05:48PM
there are probably endless reasons why life cannot exist on mars.
however, for a time, the earth was flat, then it turned round and was the center of everything ...
tons and tons of arguments had to be fought because every new theory was "crack pot".
after losing all "special privileges" of geometry and location giraffes were discovered. and elifents. and fish with lamps living under crushing columns of water .. with fangs and stuff.
well great .. it's IMPOSSIBLE for life on mars. it's fairytale like beetles in rainless desert that condensate early morning moisture from air with magic bristles. and the bug that keeps lifting its legs so as not to burn them on scorching hot desert sand. trouts that "sweat" slime because a soapy fish has less friction in fast flowing water... next to the diver spider.
also i am pretty sure a "celebi"(*) lives in my "natural ground water raising" palm tree group. and yes they go faster then light.
(*)https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Celebi_(Pokémon)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @06:28PM
1: I got an insect on Mars!
2: ...
2: I got a rock.