{"id":618,"date":"2008-03-01T09:10:29","date_gmt":"2008-03-01T09:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lewisdartnell.com\/en-gb\/?p=618"},"modified":"2008-03-01T09:10:29","modified_gmt":"2008-03-01T09:10:29","slug":"a-living-mars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lewisdartnell.com\/en-gb\/2008\/03\/a-living-mars\/","title":{"rendered":"A Living Mars?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/lewis.dsruptiv.net\/en-gb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/GT-cover.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-444\" alt=\"GT-cover\" src=\"http:\/\/lewis.dsruptiv.net\/en-gb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/GT-cover.gif\" width=\"95\" height=\"125\" \/><\/a>The possibility of a living Mars is deeply ingrained in popular culture. The observations of the astronomer Percival Lowell, and his interpretation that these canals were built to channel melt-water from the polar regions down to the dying cities and farms huddled around the equator, are well known. Even into the 1960s, textbooks were being published that explained the temporal variation in surface brightness as due to the seasonal spread of vegetation. Martians are the science-fiction writer&#8217;s alien invader of choice, from the heat-ray-wielding tripods of H.G. Wells to the bulbous-headed aggressors of Tim Burton&#8217;s 1996 film<i>Mars Attacks<\/i>. With the armada of robotic probes currently orbiting and roving across the red planet, Mars has never been so fore-front in the public eye. Much of this interest is focussed on the possibility that our planetary neighbour has supported an independent genesis of life, and that in certain regions it may remain habitable even to this day. In this feature article, a selection of some of the most recent results and discoveries concerning the astrobiological potential of Mars will be discussed.<\/p>\n<p>Download <a href=\"http:\/\/lewis.dsruptiv.net\/en-gb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Lewis_Dartnell-Living_Mars.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">pdf<\/a><br \/>\nRead on <a href=\"http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1111\/j.1365-2451.2008.00657.x\/abstract\" target=\"_blank\">Geology Today<\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"StumbleUpon\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"Lewis_Dartnell\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"A%20Living%20Mars%3F\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The possibility of a living Mars is deeply ingrained in popular culture. The observations of the astronomer Percival Lowell, and his interpretation that these canals were built to channel melt-water from the polar regions down to the dying cities and farms huddled around the equator, are well known. Even into the 1960s, textbooks were being [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,4,36,37,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-blog","category-feature","category-geology-today","category-science-writing"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Living Mars? - Lewis Dartnell<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/lewisdartnell.com\/en-gb\/2008\/03\/a-living-mars\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Living Mars? - Lewis Dartnell\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The possibility of a living Mars is deeply ingrained in popular culture. The observations of the astronomer Percival Lowell, and his interpretation that these canals were built to channel melt-water from the polar regions down to the dying cities and farms huddled around the equator, are well known. Even into the 1960s, textbooks were being [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/lewisdartnell.com\/en-gb\/2008\/03\/a-living-mars\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lewis Dartnell\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-03-01T09:10:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/lewis.dsruptiv.net\/en-gb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/GT-cover.gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"lewis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"lewis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/lewisdartnell.com\/en-gb\/2008\/03\/a-living-mars\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/lewisdartnell.com\/en-gb\/2008\/03\/a-living-mars\/\",\"name\":\"A Living Mars? - Lewis Dartnell\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/lewisdartnell.com\/en-gb\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/lewisdartnell.com\/en-gb\/2008\/03\/a-living-mars\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/lewisdartnell.com\/en-gb\/2008\/03\/a-living-mars\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/lewis.dsruptiv.net\/en-gb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/GT-cover.gif\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-03-01T09:10:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/lewisdartnell.com\/en-gb\/#\/schema\/person\/f6217bd00be700085b5554a26f8b3732\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/lewisdartnell.com\/en-gb\/2008\/03\/a-living-mars\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/lewisdartnell.com\/en-gb\/2008\/03\/a-living-mars\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/lewisdartnell.com\/en-gb\/2008\/03\/a-living-mars\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/lewis.dsruptiv.net\/en-gb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/GT-cover.gif\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/lewis.dsruptiv.net\/en-gb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/GT-cover.gif\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/lewisdartnell.com\/en-gb\/2008\/03\/a-living-mars\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/lewisdartnell.com\/en-gb\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Living Mars?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/lewisdartnell.com\/en-gb\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/lewisdartnell.com\/en-gb\/\",\"name\":\"Lewis Dartnell\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/lewisdartnell.com\/en-gb\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/lewisdartnell.com\/en-gb\/#\/schema\/person\/f6217bd00be700085b5554a26f8b3732\",\"name\":\"lewis\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/lewisdartnell.com\/en-gb\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/982e96b77e48c2710145f5fb186d1eebc865aa8f5caddaea617d468202c0815b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/982e96b77e48c2710145f5fb186d1eebc865aa8f5caddaea617d468202c0815b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"lewis\"},\"url\":\"http:\/\/lewisdartnell.com\/en-gb\/author\/lewis\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Living Mars? - Lewis Dartnell","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/lewisdartnell.com\/en-gb\/2008\/03\/a-living-mars\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Living Mars? - Lewis Dartnell","og_description":"The possibility of a living Mars is deeply ingrained in popular culture. 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