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NASA has vehemently denied that there are living "insect- and reptile-like creatures" on Mars, after a professor at Ohio University made the controversial claim earlier this week. "The collective general opinion of the large majority of the scientific community is that current conditions on the surface of Mars are not suitable for liquid water or complex life," Alana Johnson, NASA's Public Affairs Officer, said in a statement to Fox News. Johnson added that one of NASA's objectives is "the search for life in the universe" and with the upcoming Mars 2020 rover, the government space agency hopes to take the...

© NASA/JPL/University of Arizona ============================================================ On the Red Planet’s Hellas Planitia expanse, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has spotted a rather conspicuous logo that will have trekkies jumping for joy, while rekindling old rivalries with the Star Wars fandom in the process. “Enterprising viewers will make the discovery that these features look conspicuously like a famous logo,” wrote Ross Beyer of the University of Arizona in a statement discussing the unusual formation which bears more than a passing resemblance to Star Treks’ Starfleet logo. The likeness did not go unnoticed by one of Star Trek’s biggest stars, William Shatner, who couldn’t...

Curiosity can autonomously zero in on the rocks it needs to take pictures, but has to beam the pictures to Earth for the scientists to do the analysis remotely. If Curiosity is out of range of a Mars orbiter, the uploads are painfully slow – about 250 times slower than what a human on Earth encounters on a typical 3G cell phone network. TextureCam would instead take a 3D picture of the rock using stereo cameras. A processor, not linked to the rover's main computer, would then scan the picture for textures, allowing the machine to figure out the difference...

Yes, ladies and gentlemen. Late night radio at its whacky best. George Noory and Coast to Coast AM. I cannot do this thread every night. I don't want to do it even if I could. Who would like to take the responsibility to start this thread each night? If you cannot hear it on your local station, you can listen online at www.KFI640.com