Mars Shows Signs of Having Flowing Water, Possible Niches for Life,
NASA Says
In the past few days NASA has
confirmed there are signs of flowing water on Mars. It has been known for a while that millions
of years ago oceans and rivers existed on the Martian surface and that there
are large amounts of ice at the polar ice caps but now they have found proof
for liquid water in what they call recurring slope lineae. These lineae are dark streaks on the Martian
surface that darken and lengthen in the summer and fade in the winter. The most important discovery though is that
this cycle recurs which hints towards flowing water in the warmer summer
climate and ice in the cooler winter.
The problem is that confirming that there is in fact liquid water has
been difficult and required scientists to come up with new ways of identifying
it. They were finally able to confirm
the presence of water by identifying hydrated salts (salts with water in their
bonds) in four different locations, all with lineae. The salts were only present during the times
when the streaks were darker which has led researchers to believe that it is
salt water. These salts are an important
discovery in many ways. First, because
they require recent sources of liquid water to form which confirms the presence
of liquid water on mars and second because salts have a property of lowering
the freezing point of water which provides an explanation for water being able
to flow in the much colder climate of mars.
The discovery of water is extremely important because it allows for the
possibility of life in the form of microorganisms. Many scientists disagree on whether or not
this would be possible but there is no way to know until we can send a rover to
look. The problem is, the rover on mars
and the next rover scheduled for 2020 will not be able to examine the life on
mars because they will not be properly sterilized and could contain microorganisms
from earth that could contaminate the Martian microorganisms. Scientists are afraid they may have already
done so because they have found what they believe to be lineae within a few
miles of the unsterilized rover, Curiosity.
This discovery is extremely important because it has now
possibly legitimized sending humans to Mars in the near future. The now much more real possibility of life on
mars is also very important and could lead to the discovery of a new type of
microorganism that cannot be found on earth.
I enjoyed reading this article which was very well written
and researched. The author included many
quotes of leading scientists at NASA and other experts in this field which
provided many different points of view and insights on this new discovery. This allows the reader to start to form his
or her own opinion which makes it a very interesting read. One of the primary criticisms I have is that the
author seemed to jump around a lot and not focus as directly on the presence of
water. He seemed to get off topic easily
by going into excessive detail on topics that were not important in informing
the reader about the discovery of water on Mars.
Chang, Kenneth. "Mars Shows Signs of Having Flowing
Water, Possible Niches for Life, NASA Says." The New York Times. The New
York Times, 28 Sept. 2015. Web. 02 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/29/science/space/mars-life-liquid-water.html>.
The summary of this article was extremely clear and well done. I think it is so interesting that in our lifetimes they have discovered flowing water on Mars, which gives us hope that there could be life there too. The possibility that we might be able to send a human to Mars in our lifetime is also astounding. I loved Jason’s opinion that finding flowing water on Mars is a legitimate reason to send a human there. I think Jason did a really good job summarizing the article and touching on all the key points.
ReplyDeleteI think Jason could have put some quotes in from the article to express the author’s voice and discoveries. Also, Jason could have put in some statistics that could illustrate the scientific findings in a more mathematical way. Overall, this was an awesome current event.
I had heard about the flowing water on Mars, but I had not had time to read an article on it yet. So this was a perfect opportunity for me to read about this and educate myself on this extremely important and highly publicized discovery.
Jason did a great job with his article — it was well-written, clearly thought out, and explained the topic simply. He thoroughly discussed the different surfaces of Mars and the cycles that we can expect the planet to go through. He also identified the main problem concerning scientists: that there is liquid water, but it has been difficult for scientists to be able to identify it. Jason discussed the importance of these discoveries, stating that they have now possibility legitimized sending humans to Mars in the near future, which helped my understanding of the relevance of the topic today.
ReplyDeleteJason could have discussed the steps that scientists are trying to take in order to solve the problem of not being able to identify the water sources on Mars; this information would help to further my understanding of the obstacles faced by the scientists, and whether there needs to be much more progress made before we can set foot on Mars. Also, if Jason had added quotes from the article, it would have added a different perspective from the researchers and scientist doing the work.
I did not know that scientists had made progress in finding water on Mars, and even that they plan to send humans to the planet in the future. I look forward to seeing the impact of these discoveries in the future.
You did a fantastic job on this review! I was very impressed with the summary of the article and was able to learn quite a bit through your description. It was very interesting to read as well. I also think that your third paragraph, where you talked about the author’s writing style was well written. I was able to see that you focused on what was done well or could’ve been improved in the article. Finally, I think that review flowed very nicely and illustrated a great outline of the article. The separation of these thoughts into paragraphs allowed me to clearly understand your review.
ReplyDeleteThough your review was well written and organized, there were a few items you could include in your next current event. I feel that you could have added a quote into your summary paragraph, maybe from an expert in the subject. Quotes add more legitimacy to reviews, and make the reader feel that the article and author is serious about their writing. I also think that you could have been slightly more descriptive in your paragraph that talked about the importance of this discovery in science.. I found it to be a little vague and though you gave you ideas consisly, the paragraph was very short.
I was very surprised to discover that examining life on Mars is quite difficult. Because of the risk that the rovers being sent could bring contaminants from Earth, it makes looking for Mars microorganisms more difficult. I was also stunned to see that the next rover to Mars will not be sent until 2020. This is kind of a long time from now so I was shocked to see that they’re waiting this much.
Jason’s review on the article, “Mars Shows Signs of Having Flowing Water, Possible Niches for Life, NASA Says,” clearly explained this new revelation in the scientific inquiry of Mars. The summary paragraph was very detailed, but it was just enough information to give the reader a basic understanding of the topic, so this was a great aspect of the review. I think that Jason also did a good job of explaining the controversy behind this topic regarding the unsterilized rovers to remind the reader that this is not a definite finding, but there is now a higher possibility of life on Mars. Additionally, I appreciated that Jason was very specific when summarizing the article, by identifying specific rovers, dates, and scientific terminology to help the reader better comprehend NASA’s study.
ReplyDeleteAlthough this critique was well written, there are a couple improvements that could be made. I think Jason’s summary of the article should include a direct quote from an expert on this subject in order to make his review even stronger. Also, I wish Jason had gone into more detail on the importance of finding signs of water on Mars and how it pertains to society in general. This would allow the reader to truly value this recent information about the study of Mars.
Before reading this article and review, I was unaware of the difficulty of studying life on Mars. I had no idea that the rovers had to be carefully sterilized so they don’t infect Mars with bacteria from Earth. It was interesting to read about this advancement by NASA, and I hope to hear more about life on Mars in the future.
Great job Jason! I really enjoyed reading your review. I thought that your summary was simple but clear. This allowed for me to be able to easily read your article and not get lost in the science of it. I also liked how you talked about the possibility of there being microorganisms because of the discovery of water. I think that would be so amazing if that was true. It really made the review more interesting because you explained what the discovery means to the science world. I also appreciated how you put the opposing views from the scientists. This gave more credibility to you because you were not just leaving us in ignorance and only relaying one idea.
ReplyDeleteI think that your summary was great. However, I think that if you directly added more parts of the article to your review the review would be better. I also would have enjoyed if you further explained what steps scientists were taking to deal with the problems of the identification of the water sources. This would just help me better understand what will happen in the future of mars.
I was very excited to read your article because I had heard about the discovery last week, but I had not got the chance to read about it. So your article really helped me learn about the water and how it was found. It is crazy! Maybe one day we will be living there!
Jason’s review was very informative, concise, and easy to read. I also think that Jason did a great job expressing the dilemma scientists are faced with concerning the rovers going to Mars in 2020 and the ones already existing there; they are unsterile when reaching Mars and could contaminate the new life. Also, he explained how there is no definitive discovery of life, due to a lack of knowledge and the contaminations of rovers on Mars like the Curiosity rover. Lastly, I liked how Jason included specific data and names because it made the article much easier to read and follow NASA’s progress.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Jason did a great job in his summary and everything was very clear, there is always room for improvement. For example, Jason mentioned that the author included quotes from other experts; I think it would have enhanced his review if he had included those quotes. I also think it would have been good to add a little more information on how this new Mars revelation pertains to society today so more people can relate to this important finding.
I was very excited to read this article because I think that the fact that life is possible on Mars if very intriguing. I was surprised how hard it actually is to conduct reliable experiments and research due to sterility issues. Hopefully we will see new life on Mars in the future.
ang, Kenneth. "Mars Shows Signs of Having Flowing Water, Possible Niches for Life, NASA Says." The New York Times. The New York Times, 28 Sept. 2015. Web. 02 Oct. 2015. .
Jason, you did a great job with your summary, providing the information in a very compact easily absorbable form. You did this by providing a smooth flow to the information which made it very easy to follow. The summary also contain in-text definitions for complicated terms such as hydrated salts to ensure that the reader was not thrown off. After the summary, you also provided a superb critique of the author of your article which added a separate layer of legitimacy to your review.
ReplyDeleteTo improve on your review, adding quotes directly from the article would be helpful. The Addition of quotes makes the summery more legitimate and gives the author’s or scientist’s point of view on the matter, giving the summary more substance. Also, data such as how much water was found or over what percentage of the planet was water present would be very useful for the reader.
While I had heard that water was discovered on Mars, one thing that I found shocking was the thought that we may have already made the microorganisms on mar impure when we landed rovers. The thought that we haven’t even been there and may have already contaminated the microorganism population of another planet is almost comical.
Awesome job with this review, Jason! You summarized everything clearly and seemingly with ease, covering all of the main points of the article without including any extraneous details. Not only that, but you were able to establish a connection to how this topic affects human beings today, something that many people struggle with in these current events. This new discovery makes the possibility of sending humans to mars even more possible, which, of course, would be an enormous deal worldwide! Thirdly, your writing style was very easy to read and follow, yet remained extremely informative. This is an extremely hard quality to find in nonfiction writings, which are usually either much oversimplified or much overcomplicated; this hints at a real knack you have for writing intellectual reviews!
ReplyDeleteJason, it's so hard to think of any area which could benefit from improvement! But if anything, you may benefit from some more outside information in general. I would have liked to learn more about the types of technologies that actually allow us to study Mars in such detail, and slight more explanation on how, after years and years of research, we were just able to identify these hydrated salts now. Secondly, although the style itself was great, the professionalism of the article could have been improved with the inclusion of one or two expert quotes. Although not totally completely necessary, it overall would have just legitimized your argument and made it stronger.
But on the whole, this review was astounding. Your writing and analysis blew me away. It really taught me a lot about the importance of water on Mars, a topic that I knew little about before. After reading this, I'll be sure to take into consideration the impact of geographical features on a location, and put my life not just in perspective of earth but of the entire galaxy. As do many things pertaining to space, I was really just reminded of the huge expanse past our universe, and am interested for the umpteeth time on what’s really out there! I chose this article because of my lack of knowledge of the topic, and am extremely glad that this is the one I read. Thanks, Jason, for giving me such a great read!