Prototype machine for detecting Martian life

[DavidBrown]

Craig Venter and his colleagues are testing technology for detecting and sequencing the genomes of microbes remotely. This technology might be useful for exploring for microbial life on other planets like Mars.

In the Mojave, a scientist-entrepreneur works to 're-create Martians' - latimes.com

 

[gentle lemur]

Quite funny. Is Dr Ventner rich enough to afford his own rocket?
Seriously, this project assumes that the nucleic acid chemistry of putative Martians is very similar to our own (remembering that all organisms on Earth have virtually identical DNA and RNA structures). That would agree with the panspermia theories of Hoyle and Wickramsinghe, which most scientists consider as barmy.
Martian lifeforms might have very different biochemistry, so that they would be undetectable by these methods, even if they exist in large populations

Alan

 

[DavidBrown]

Quite funny. Is Dr Ventner rich enough to afford his own rocket?
Seriously, this project assumes that the nucleic acid chemistry of putative Martians is very similar to our own (remembering that all organisms on Earth have virtually identical DNA and RNA structures). That would agree with the panspermia theories of Hoyle and Wickramsinghe, which most scientists consider as barmy.
Martian lifeforms might have very different biochemistry, so that they would be undetectable by these methods, even if they exist in large populations

Alan

You won't be investing in this project then, gentle lemur?

Venter is a billionaire, so he probably can afford his own rocket. He certainly has the ego for it.

Your critique about the genomic structure of alien microbes is certainly valid and a fundamental point that never seems to get discussed in these stories.