1 00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:09,200 Speaker 1: Hey, Daniel, let's talk about life. Yeah. One of the 2 00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:13,080 Speaker 1: most interesting mysteries about life is how did he get started? 3 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:14,640 Speaker 1: I mean, how do you go from like a pile 4 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:17,480 Speaker 1: of rocks and water and all sorts of energy to 5 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:20,640 Speaker 1: things that actually live and turn into you know, people 6 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:24,520 Speaker 1: and hamsters. Even more interesting is the question where did 7 00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:28,640 Speaker 1: life get Yeah, we don't even know whether life started 8 00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:31,360 Speaker 1: on Earth. I mean, life could have started somewhere else 9 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:34,440 Speaker 1: in the universe and then landed here on Earth. We 10 00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:38,600 Speaker 1: could all be aliens, that's right. This is the science 11 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:41,080 Speaker 1: fiction novel where the twist is that we are all 12 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:45,960 Speaker 1: the aliens. But it's a deep question not just how 13 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:48,839 Speaker 1: did life begin, but where did it begin first? And 14 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:51,000 Speaker 1: it's not guaranteed that just because this life on Earth 15 00:00:51,080 --> 00:01:09,600 Speaker 1: now that it means that life started on Earth. Him 16 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:12,920 Speaker 1: and I'm Daniel, and this is our podcast Daniel and 17 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:16,400 Speaker 1: Jorge explained the universe, in which we take the whole universe, 18 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:19,160 Speaker 1: find one interesting little nugget and try to explain it 19 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:21,400 Speaker 1: to you in a way that you could actually understand. 20 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:26,240 Speaker 1: No jargon, no handwaving, because it's a podcast, just actual 21 00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:29,640 Speaker 1: understandable explanations. We can press it down to thirty five minutes, 22 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:33,240 Speaker 1: thirty minutes and then stick it in your ear downloaded 23 00:01:33,319 --> 00:01:36,319 Speaker 1: directly into your brain. On the episode today, we're going 24 00:01:36,360 --> 00:01:44,480 Speaker 1: to talk about is there or was there ever life 25 00:01:44,680 --> 00:01:48,400 Speaker 1: on Mars? I love this question because it's like Mars 26 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:50,800 Speaker 1: is the other laboratory for life. You know, we all 27 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:52,840 Speaker 1: know this life on Earth. It's a deep question about 28 00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:54,880 Speaker 1: how did life start on Earth? And when did it 29 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:56,800 Speaker 1: start on Earth? And how do you start from like 30 00:01:57,160 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 1: a pool of water with molecules in it and lightning 31 00:01:59,880 --> 00:02:02,200 Speaker 1: and get to life? Right? But the other question is 32 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:05,440 Speaker 1: like does it happen elsewhere? Right? If you have similar 33 00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:09,720 Speaker 1: conditions somewhere else nearby, like the next door planet, then 34 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:12,359 Speaker 1: you can ask like did it happen there as well? Yeah? 35 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:15,160 Speaker 1: Are we the only planet in our Solar system or 36 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:21,000 Speaker 1: even the universe who has lives? Lives? Lives? Life? Does Mars? 37 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:24,200 Speaker 1: Even how a life it stays in the weekends? Mars 38 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:27,880 Speaker 1: turns out to be pretty dull. Ye. Now, we're not 39 00:02:27,919 --> 00:02:30,840 Speaker 1: interested in Mars is social life. We're interested in was 40 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:34,720 Speaker 1: there ever life on Mars? And is there life on Mars? Today? 41 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:36,960 Speaker 1: And it's a deep question because it will tell us 42 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:39,400 Speaker 1: a lot about how life starts and what the chances 43 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:42,280 Speaker 1: are for life to start if you have the basic ingredients. 44 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:45,040 Speaker 1: You mean, we could have neighbors right now looking at us. 45 00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:48,200 Speaker 1: There could be right now life on Mars. Yeah. Oops, 46 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:53,920 Speaker 1: I just spoiled the answer to the whole podcast. They're 47 00:02:53,919 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 1: probably not looking at us, but there may very well 48 00:02:56,760 --> 00:03:00,360 Speaker 1: be life on Mars today. Whether it came from Earth, 49 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:03,160 Speaker 1: or whether it started on Mars, or whether life staro 50 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:06,480 Speaker 1: Mars and then came to Earth all open questions. So 51 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:09,359 Speaker 1: this is a big question and it's pretty ingraining in 52 00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 1: our popular culture. You know, Martians, little green men, aliens 53 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:15,920 Speaker 1: from Mars, and so we wanted to know if you 54 00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:19,359 Speaker 1: guys out there knew with the answer to this question 55 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:21,920 Speaker 1: whether there is life on Mars. Yeah. So before you 56 00:03:21,919 --> 00:03:24,240 Speaker 1: hear these answers, think to yourself, what do you know 57 00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:26,920 Speaker 1: about life on Mars? What do you believe or what 58 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:29,480 Speaker 1: do you hope for life on Mars. I went out 59 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:32,079 Speaker 1: and I asked random people on the UC Irvine campus 60 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:38,640 Speaker 1: what they thought about this question. Um, I think it's possible. 61 00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:41,680 Speaker 1: It's possible. Ye could be if you know that water 62 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:46,200 Speaker 1: has been found, um, not like human beings. Possibly, yes, 63 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:51,600 Speaker 1: what kind of life do you measure even like bacteria. Even, yes, 64 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:55,200 Speaker 1: I think it's possible. I believe like even if you've 65 00:03:55,240 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 1: never seen it or discoverd it doesn't mean it doesn't 66 00:03:57,360 --> 00:04:02,839 Speaker 1: mean like it doesn't exist. Right, So most people said maybe, right, Yeah, 67 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:05,440 Speaker 1: most people are pretty open to the idea. You know, 68 00:04:05,520 --> 00:04:07,560 Speaker 1: they thought that probably is life on Mars. They know 69 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:10,040 Speaker 1: that there's water on Mars. So the takeaway here is 70 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:12,800 Speaker 1: that NASA has done an excellent job with their pr 71 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:15,720 Speaker 1: you know, they spend billions of dollars, they make these discoveries, 72 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:18,160 Speaker 1: and they educate the public about it. Right, everybody has 73 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:22,360 Speaker 1: heard about these discoveries they've made about discovering water on Mars. Yeah. 74 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:25,280 Speaker 1: People are just captivated about this idea, right, Like they 75 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:27,599 Speaker 1: just have to say Mars or we're going to Mars, 76 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:29,480 Speaker 1: or there's water on Mars, and people just kind of 77 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:33,800 Speaker 1: instantly pay attention. Yeah, absolutely, because it's right there. You know, 78 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:37,080 Speaker 1: the idea of aliens being alive somewhere in the universe 79 00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:40,719 Speaker 1: is fascinating, but it's kind of remote. You know, it's distant, like, yeah, okay, 80 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:44,040 Speaker 1: maybe there's life around Alpha Centauri or some other crazy galaxy. 81 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:46,279 Speaker 1: You can talk about that in the abstract, but they're 82 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:48,680 Speaker 1: so far away they will never get here, right, it 83 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:52,039 Speaker 1: doesn't really matter. But if there's life on Mars, I mean, 84 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:54,480 Speaker 1: Mars is a hop, skip and a jump away, right, 85 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:57,120 Speaker 1: it's it's it's a few months to get to Mars. 86 00:04:57,120 --> 00:04:59,320 Speaker 1: So life on Mars we could actually go there and 87 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:01,960 Speaker 1: we could study it. They could come here. It's an 88 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:05,520 Speaker 1: amazing opportunity to learn about life. It's real, it's close by. 89 00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:08,640 Speaker 1: I mean you're assuming they haven't been here already, that's right. 90 00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:12,160 Speaker 1: It could be there are Martians among us. Maybe you're 91 00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:15,359 Speaker 1: the Martian, right, maybe martial. Maybe we're all Martians. I 92 00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:17,600 Speaker 1: am yeah, I am a Martian. I am totally just 93 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:20,320 Speaker 1: like Matt Damon in that movie. You know. As a 94 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:22,840 Speaker 1: note about the Martian, I heard that a huge fraction 95 00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:25,240 Speaker 1: of people who saw the movie the Martian thought it 96 00:05:25,279 --> 00:05:28,320 Speaker 1: was a documentary. No, I thought it really happened, and 97 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:32,280 Speaker 1: they were pretty disappointed when they discovered what that's science fiction. Wow, 98 00:05:32,279 --> 00:05:35,040 Speaker 1: that's amazing. For all the people do know about Mars, 99 00:05:35,080 --> 00:05:37,640 Speaker 1: you know that there's water on, etcetera. They seem to 100 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:39,400 Speaker 1: have the impression that we have the capability to go 101 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:42,200 Speaker 1: there today, which certainly is not the case. It's a 102 00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:44,600 Speaker 1: big testament to that story and that movie is that 103 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:47,599 Speaker 1: everything was sort of based on real science, right. I 104 00:05:47,640 --> 00:05:50,440 Speaker 1: mean all of the technology about getting there and living there, 105 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:53,200 Speaker 1: it's all sort of available technology. That was kind of amazing. 106 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:55,400 Speaker 1: You look like Matt Damon also, actually do you mean 107 00:05:55,440 --> 00:05:57,800 Speaker 1: to tell you that? Yeah? Or maybe Matt Damon is 108 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:00,599 Speaker 1: the Martian version of me. That's right, Yeah, Matt Damon 109 00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:02,400 Speaker 1: is the Martian horn Hite child. I'm sure he tells 110 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:05,159 Speaker 1: that to everybody, right, That's that's how he introduces themselves. 111 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:13,359 Speaker 1: I'm sure. Yeah, Yeah, there's that fascination with Mars. I 112 00:06:13,360 --> 00:06:15,240 Speaker 1: guess it's just kind of our next door neighbor, right, 113 00:06:15,279 --> 00:06:18,120 Speaker 1: it's sort of the next planet over. That's not you know, 114 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:20,000 Speaker 1: boiling for being to flow to the Sun. It's just 115 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:22,040 Speaker 1: like the next one over. Yeah, And people have been 116 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:24,440 Speaker 1: looking at Mars for a while because it's so close 117 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:27,679 Speaker 1: and so, you know, telescopes became more available. People started 118 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:30,279 Speaker 1: pointing them at Mars, and pretty early on they saw 119 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:33,120 Speaker 1: some interesting stuff, which led to crazy speculation. You know, 120 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:36,280 Speaker 1: people saw lines on Mars that corresponded to what they 121 00:06:36,279 --> 00:06:40,040 Speaker 1: thought were canals, which they thought was evidence of like civilization. 122 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:43,279 Speaker 1: And that's pretty exciting, right, And I like to imagine 123 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:45,520 Speaker 1: what was it like to be those people. You're you know, 124 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:47,680 Speaker 1: you're looking at the neighboring planet for the first time. 125 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 1: You could see anything, right, you could see like huge 126 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:54,159 Speaker 1: civilizations and airships and all sorts of crazy stuff, or 127 00:06:54,200 --> 00:06:56,360 Speaker 1: you could see nothing but dust and rubble. I mean 128 00:06:56,400 --> 00:06:59,040 Speaker 1: that moment when you first get get a bide at 129 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:02,280 Speaker 1: a scientific apples really exciting time. And so for them 130 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:05,000 Speaker 1: to look through those telescopes and see something that looks 131 00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:09,120 Speaker 1: like civilization, that must have been pretty exciting. Yeah. I mean, 132 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:10,760 Speaker 1: it's maybe something a lot of people don't know, is 133 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:13,120 Speaker 1: that you can go out in a typical night and 134 00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:16,000 Speaker 1: look out into the sky and see Mars like you 135 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:18,480 Speaker 1: can see the next planet over. Yeah. Yeah, And not 136 00:07:18,560 --> 00:07:20,600 Speaker 1: only can you see you can see its color. Right, 137 00:07:20,640 --> 00:07:22,920 Speaker 1: It's not just like a tiny dot in the sky. 138 00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:25,520 Speaker 1: You could see it's reddish, like you are seeing the 139 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:29,680 Speaker 1: surface of another planet. It's incredible. Yeah, that's amazing. So 140 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:32,360 Speaker 1: I thought, before we would dig into this idea of 141 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:33,800 Speaker 1: life and Mars, I thought it'd be cool to just 142 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:36,360 Speaker 1: kind of um talk a little bit about some facts 143 00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:40,480 Speaker 1: about Mars. So it did some extensive research online or 144 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:44,760 Speaker 1: does that mean you just looked at Wikipedia. Yeah, uh, well, 145 00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:47,640 Speaker 1: I thought it was cool that Mars is about only 146 00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:50,840 Speaker 1: about half of the diameter of Earth. It's actually smaller 147 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:53,480 Speaker 1: than Earth, like we are the bigger brother. Yeah, it 148 00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:56,040 Speaker 1: got a small scoop of planet stuff. Yeah, that makes 149 00:07:56,040 --> 00:07:58,160 Speaker 1: it a lot smaller. And that has consequences because it 150 00:07:58,160 --> 00:08:00,520 Speaker 1: means that the gravity on Mars is us Right, you 151 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:03,520 Speaker 1: stand on surface of Mars. That's basically an instant diet 152 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:07,480 Speaker 1: right there. Yeah, you'll weigh less, you can jump, you 153 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:10,240 Speaker 1: can jump higher. Yeah, you can stand on Mars and 154 00:08:10,280 --> 00:08:13,480 Speaker 1: eat Mars bars and still you can eat twice as 155 00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:17,560 Speaker 1: many um. But it's not just because it's smaller. It's 156 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:20,960 Speaker 1: also less dense, Like it's a planet. It's half the 157 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:24,440 Speaker 1: size of the Earth, but the planet itself, like the rock, 158 00:08:24,520 --> 00:08:28,400 Speaker 1: it's less dense. Yeah, it's like fluffier. Yeah, it's fluffier. Yeah. Yeah. 159 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:31,640 Speaker 1: I think that must be connected, right, because the more 160 00:08:31,800 --> 00:08:34,520 Speaker 1: stuff there is, the more gravity there is, the more 161 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:37,440 Speaker 1: it gets compressed. Like the interior of the Sun must 162 00:08:37,480 --> 00:08:39,880 Speaker 1: be denser than the interior of Jupiter, which must be 163 00:08:39,920 --> 00:08:42,120 Speaker 1: denser than the interior of the Earth. Right, So I 164 00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:44,000 Speaker 1: think there must be a connection between the size of 165 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:47,559 Speaker 1: the planet and the density of the interior. Oh right, Yeah, 166 00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:50,560 Speaker 1: And another interesting fact that read was that Mars does 167 00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:53,440 Speaker 1: have an atmosphere. You can go there and there's wind 168 00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:57,120 Speaker 1: and there's an atmosphere around it, but it's only about 169 00:08:57,520 --> 00:09:00,640 Speaker 1: one percent of the atmosphere we have here. Try. Yeah, 170 00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:02,800 Speaker 1: Mars does not have much of an atmosphere, which is 171 00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:06,240 Speaker 1: pretty important for supporting life. Yeah, okay, And the last 172 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:08,680 Speaker 1: cool fact I read was that a day on Mars, like, 173 00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:11,360 Speaker 1: if you're standing on Mars, a day for you would 174 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:15,559 Speaker 1: last one day in thirty seven minutes. That's right. That's 175 00:09:15,559 --> 00:09:17,800 Speaker 1: sounded kind of amazing to me, because you know, the 176 00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:19,800 Speaker 1: length of the day on the planet is just determined 177 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:22,360 Speaker 1: by how fast it spins. And you know, these planets 178 00:09:22,360 --> 00:09:24,760 Speaker 1: could spin at any speed, and so the fact that 179 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:27,880 Speaker 1: it lasts just about an Earth day, it's spinning it 180 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:30,200 Speaker 1: just about the same speed it's the Earth, right, And 181 00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:31,920 Speaker 1: it turns out a lot of the planets you're spinning 182 00:09:31,920 --> 00:09:35,079 Speaker 1: it at approximately the same speed. We all sort of 183 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:37,560 Speaker 1: spun out at the same rate. Yeah, but does that 184 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:39,640 Speaker 1: make you like want to go to Mars and imagine 185 00:09:39,640 --> 00:09:42,200 Speaker 1: you'll get like an extra few minutes every day. Well, 186 00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:44,240 Speaker 1: not only would you weigh less, you would have some 187 00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:46,520 Speaker 1: extra climb in your hand every day. Imagine what you 188 00:09:46,559 --> 00:09:50,080 Speaker 1: can do with an extra thirty seven minutes every day. Yeah, 189 00:09:50,120 --> 00:09:52,640 Speaker 1: the commute, the like nine months each way commute might 190 00:09:52,679 --> 00:09:56,559 Speaker 1: be kind of killer though, but no traffic, right, Sometimes 191 00:09:56,600 --> 00:09:57,880 Speaker 1: I feel like I'm on the four or five for 192 00:09:58,000 --> 00:09:59,760 Speaker 1: nine months anyway. So if you're like, might as well 193 00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:03,360 Speaker 1: go to Mars, you know. Cool. So that's that's our 194 00:10:03,400 --> 00:10:05,800 Speaker 1: sister planet, and it's sort of the same size. It's 195 00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:10,120 Speaker 1: very close by were blue, Mars is red, So there's 196 00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:12,920 Speaker 1: sort of the interesting parallel that people think about, right, Yeah, 197 00:10:13,040 --> 00:10:15,720 Speaker 1: if you think about where life can exist in the universe, 198 00:10:15,960 --> 00:10:18,319 Speaker 1: there are these little slices. You know, you have to 199 00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:20,720 Speaker 1: be a certain distance from the Sun in order to 200 00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:23,319 Speaker 1: not be broiled on the surface, right, but you can't 201 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:25,760 Speaker 1: be too far away. It's because you can't be too cold. 202 00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:28,360 Speaker 1: You have to have liquid water, and so there's these 203 00:10:28,480 --> 00:10:31,160 Speaker 1: narrow regions around each star. They call it the habitable 204 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:34,080 Speaker 1: zone where liquid water can exist on the surface, and 205 00:10:34,160 --> 00:10:36,760 Speaker 1: Earth certainly in it. And Mars is right there, you know, 206 00:10:36,840 --> 00:10:39,280 Speaker 1: like there's not that much in the Solar System. Aren't 207 00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:41,600 Speaker 1: that many planets inhabitable zone, and so Mars is a 208 00:10:41,600 --> 00:10:44,920 Speaker 1: great candidate. Yeah, so it's it's sort of it's warm 209 00:10:44,960 --> 00:10:47,320 Speaker 1: and bombing, and it's not sort of extreme like some 210 00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:49,360 Speaker 1: of these other planets, right, Like, if you go to 211 00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:53,080 Speaker 1: Venus or Mercury or Jupiter, you would just die instantly. 212 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:55,520 Speaker 1: What don't you that's right. I wouldn't call Mars warm 213 00:10:55,520 --> 00:10:58,360 Speaker 1: and bombing unless you have in charge of the advertising 214 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:02,719 Speaker 1: for Martian vacations. It's definitely cold, Okay, Mars is sub freezing, right, 215 00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:06,240 Speaker 1: package jacket folks, and don't bring your swimsuit because Mars 216 00:11:06,280 --> 00:11:08,839 Speaker 1: is subfreezing. But on the scale of like you know, 217 00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:12,439 Speaker 1: Pluto or Jupiter or whatever, it's definitely warm and bomby. 218 00:11:12,520 --> 00:11:15,360 Speaker 1: So from that perspective, I think we're legally allowed to 219 00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:18,319 Speaker 1: say that. What I mean is that we can imagine 220 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:23,000 Speaker 1: ourselves being there and visiting and not dying instantly. Absolutely, 221 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:25,679 Speaker 1: humans with appropriate life support could exist on the surface 222 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:29,040 Speaker 1: of Mars. What's fascinating is that the service of Mars 223 00:11:29,080 --> 00:11:32,520 Speaker 1: today is cold and sub freezing and very thin atmosphere. 224 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:35,160 Speaker 1: But it didn't used to be that way. In fact, 225 00:11:35,280 --> 00:11:38,520 Speaker 1: Mars a long time ago used to be much more 226 00:11:38,600 --> 00:11:40,880 Speaker 1: like Earth. It used to be a you know, it 227 00:11:40,880 --> 00:11:45,120 Speaker 1: would be an excellent candidate for life billions of years ago. Wow, Okay, 228 00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:47,599 Speaker 1: let's hear more about that. But first let's take a 229 00:11:47,720 --> 00:12:03,400 Speaker 1: quick break. So you're saying that at some point Mars 230 00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:05,720 Speaker 1: was a lot different than it is now, like it 231 00:12:05,800 --> 00:12:09,640 Speaker 1: was more hospitable to life, Like it was actually sort 232 00:12:09,640 --> 00:12:12,640 Speaker 1: of more closer to what Earth looks like. Now, that's right. 233 00:12:12,920 --> 00:12:15,360 Speaker 1: We think based on evidence we see on the surface 234 00:12:15,360 --> 00:12:17,280 Speaker 1: of Mars now, you know, like the way the rocks 235 00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:21,080 Speaker 1: look and and the geological patterns, that Mars used to 236 00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:24,200 Speaker 1: be much more like Earth, almost covered with oceans like 237 00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:26,800 Speaker 1: there used to be huge amounts of liquid water on 238 00:12:26,840 --> 00:12:29,880 Speaker 1: the surface of Mars. Estimates vary from between thirty to 239 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:32,880 Speaker 1: seventy of the surface of Mars used to be covered 240 00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:36,200 Speaker 1: in water like Us, just like Earth. Right, So Mars 241 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:38,240 Speaker 1: would have been kind of a blue planet, not a 242 00:12:38,320 --> 00:12:41,480 Speaker 1: red planet, billions of years ago. And in addition, it 243 00:12:41,520 --> 00:12:45,000 Speaker 1: had a rich atmosphere much more than it does today. 244 00:12:45,160 --> 00:12:47,800 Speaker 1: And the atmosphere is key because an atmosphere is like 245 00:12:47,800 --> 00:12:49,440 Speaker 1: a blanket for a planet. I mean, you know that 246 00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:53,280 Speaker 1: emitting gases into our atmosphere is what's causing global warming. Well, 247 00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:55,000 Speaker 1: if you don't have any atmosphere at all, you can't 248 00:12:55,080 --> 00:12:57,400 Speaker 1: keep any heat near the surface. So you need some 249 00:12:57,440 --> 00:12:59,760 Speaker 1: sort of atmosphere just to trap the sunlight, you know, 250 00:12:59,840 --> 00:13:02,640 Speaker 1: to accumulate some heat and to prevent yourself from being 251 00:13:02,640 --> 00:13:05,440 Speaker 1: basically as cold as outer space. To Mars a long 252 00:13:05,480 --> 00:13:07,880 Speaker 1: time ago had a pretty robust atmosphere, which meant the 253 00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:11,040 Speaker 1: surface temperature was enough for liquid water, for example. So 254 00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:14,040 Speaker 1: that's a big difference. It just had this thin layer 255 00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:18,520 Speaker 1: of gas and that sort of protects acts like a shield, 256 00:13:18,559 --> 00:13:21,640 Speaker 1: like a bubble that lets you have liquid water on 257 00:13:21,679 --> 00:13:23,679 Speaker 1: the surface. Yeah, and it protects you against a lot 258 00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:25,760 Speaker 1: of stuff. Not only does it keep you warm, but 259 00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:28,800 Speaker 1: it prevents impacts from asteroids and meteors and stuff like that, 260 00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:30,720 Speaker 1: because when they hit the Earth, it's sort of like 261 00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:33,240 Speaker 1: an elfin hitting a water bed or something. It creates 262 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:35,839 Speaker 1: a big splash in the atmosphere instead of getting all 263 00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:38,040 Speaker 1: the way down to the ground, right, and it probably 264 00:13:38,120 --> 00:13:42,200 Speaker 1: hurts too. Yeah. I think elephants like jumping on water 265 00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:45,400 Speaker 1: and what you're talking about. UM, But no, atmospheres are 266 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:48,440 Speaker 1: very important, UM. For sustaining life, I mean life needs 267 00:13:48,480 --> 00:13:51,400 Speaker 1: to breathe, right, and also for keeping the temperature warm 268 00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:55,280 Speaker 1: enough and for protecting yourself against impact from from rocks 269 00:13:55,280 --> 00:13:57,720 Speaker 1: from space. So so marts you usually have these huge 270 00:13:57,720 --> 00:13:59,920 Speaker 1: oceans and sort of an atmosphere is like we do, 271 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:03,920 Speaker 1: probably clouds, you know, beaches, um. So that's why we 272 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:07,000 Speaker 1: think that maybe there could have been life. That's right, 273 00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:09,800 Speaker 1: as far as we know from a biological point of view, right, 274 00:14:09,920 --> 00:14:12,640 Speaker 1: what does it take to make life? Well, it takes 275 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:16,320 Speaker 1: basic organic molecules, and those exist on Mars today, so 276 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:18,560 Speaker 1: we're sure that they existed a long time ago. It 277 00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:22,360 Speaker 1: takes liquid water, right, it takes an energy source meaning 278 00:14:22,520 --> 00:14:25,280 Speaker 1: the sun um. And we don't really know what else 279 00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:27,760 Speaker 1: it takes. I mean, you can't have too many toxins, 280 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:31,080 Speaker 1: you can't be blasted by radiation. Um. But we don't 281 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:34,240 Speaker 1: really know. The deep question about in biology right now 282 00:14:34,480 --> 00:14:37,160 Speaker 1: is if you have all that stuff and you let 283 00:14:37,200 --> 00:14:39,640 Speaker 1: it sort of smooth around for millions of years or 284 00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:42,800 Speaker 1: billions of years, how often do you get life? You know, 285 00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:45,240 Speaker 1: is it one in a trillion, or is it every 286 00:14:45,240 --> 00:14:48,280 Speaker 1: other time? Or is it Planets that have that condition 287 00:14:48,480 --> 00:14:51,320 Speaker 1: eventually get microbial life we just don't know the answer. 288 00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:53,640 Speaker 1: It's like somebody makes the same ingredients we had here 289 00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:56,400 Speaker 1: in Earth, and the question is did little micro's pop 290 00:14:56,480 --> 00:14:58,160 Speaker 1: up in the middle of it? That's right, and you know, 291 00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:00,560 Speaker 1: my instinct is that it must have. And one piece 292 00:15:00,600 --> 00:15:02,920 Speaker 1: of evidence we have is that on Earth, it seems 293 00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:07,480 Speaker 1: like life started pretty soon after those conditions formed. You know, 294 00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:09,840 Speaker 1: once we had an atmosphere and the liquid water and 295 00:15:09,880 --> 00:15:12,200 Speaker 1: the temperature is about right, it didn't take very long 296 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:14,880 Speaker 1: for life to start. So that suggests that it's not 297 00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:18,160 Speaker 1: like a one in a bazillion chance and millions of 298 00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:21,960 Speaker 1: years you suggests that, you know, it's likely to happen. Yeah, 299 00:15:22,280 --> 00:15:25,120 Speaker 1: think about all the molecules in an ocean, right, all 300 00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:28,200 Speaker 1: the organic molecules bumping against each other. You might think 301 00:15:28,560 --> 00:15:31,080 Speaker 1: it's so improbable for it to bump into each other 302 00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:33,640 Speaker 1: and form RNA and that something that would happen to 303 00:15:33,640 --> 00:15:36,440 Speaker 1: be self replicating and build from there. Yeah, it's improbable, 304 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:39,120 Speaker 1: but you've got tend to the you know, huge number 305 00:15:39,200 --> 00:15:42,160 Speaker 1: of atoms bumping against each other for millions of years. 306 00:15:42,400 --> 00:15:45,120 Speaker 1: That's a lot of tries, right. If it's like you know, 307 00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:47,840 Speaker 1: monkeys on a typewriter banging away. Eventually one of them 308 00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:50,800 Speaker 1: is going to produce Hamlet. Yeah, it's a good picture 309 00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:54,120 Speaker 1: of of of a creator for the universe. Get a 310 00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:58,440 Speaker 1: bunch of monkeys banging molecules around. Oh look, i'mde Dna, 311 00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:01,520 Speaker 1: the creator. Sometimes it does seem like a like an 312 00:16:01,520 --> 00:16:05,560 Speaker 1: idiot monkey. Yeah, I agree. Welcome to blasphemy by Jorhand Daniel. 313 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:10,440 Speaker 1: So that's kind of why we think that maybe there 314 00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:12,480 Speaker 1: could have been life because it looked just like the Earth. 315 00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:15,600 Speaker 1: It had the right conditions, but then all of that 316 00:16:15,640 --> 00:16:17,600 Speaker 1: went away at some point because the Mars we see 317 00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:20,640 Speaker 1: now it looks like a big, big old desert. Yeah, 318 00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:23,640 Speaker 1: that's why we think that Mars was a great laboratory 319 00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:26,800 Speaker 1: for answering this question. Right, If life existed on Mars 320 00:16:27,160 --> 00:16:29,760 Speaker 1: billions of years ago, when the conditions were great, that 321 00:16:29,880 --> 00:16:32,360 Speaker 1: tells you a lot about the chances for life to start. 322 00:16:32,560 --> 00:16:35,280 Speaker 1: If life didn't exist on Mars billions of years ago, 323 00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:37,600 Speaker 1: that tells you a lot about the chances for life 324 00:16:37,600 --> 00:16:41,320 Speaker 1: to start. Right. But as we alluded earlier in the podcast, 325 00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:44,600 Speaker 1: we don't actually know if life started on Mars or 326 00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:47,400 Speaker 1: life started on Earth. Right, it could have started in 327 00:16:47,440 --> 00:16:49,640 Speaker 1: either place. We should talk about that before we talk 328 00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:54,040 Speaker 1: about the great disaster of Mars. You mean, like, so 329 00:16:54,200 --> 00:16:56,800 Speaker 1: Mars used to look like Earth. Maybe life started there 330 00:16:56,960 --> 00:17:00,560 Speaker 1: and somehow made it over here exactly, And so you 331 00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:03,280 Speaker 1: might be thinking, Hold at a second, how could microbial 332 00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:06,200 Speaker 1: life like build a spaceship, launch it and come over 333 00:17:06,240 --> 00:17:10,120 Speaker 1: to Earth. That's ridiculous, right, Why is that ridiculous? Well, 334 00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:12,680 Speaker 1: I don't know. Bacteria don't seem to build technology, or 335 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:15,480 Speaker 1: develop space ships or launched themselves into space very often. 336 00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:19,200 Speaker 1: I mean, not that we're aware of. Bacteria are secretly 337 00:17:19,240 --> 00:17:22,359 Speaker 1: exploring the universe. We don't little tiny rocket ships. Yeah, 338 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:25,040 Speaker 1: but actually it happens, and it happens sort of accidentally. 339 00:17:25,080 --> 00:17:27,160 Speaker 1: And the way it happens is that you could have 340 00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:29,360 Speaker 1: like a piece of life, you know, a little bit 341 00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:31,960 Speaker 1: of bacteria on a rock, and that rock you get 342 00:17:32,040 --> 00:17:35,440 Speaker 1: knocked into space by the impact of an asteroid. So 343 00:17:35,960 --> 00:17:39,440 Speaker 1: you know, rock number one, come from space, blast onto 344 00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:42,840 Speaker 1: the plane, a huge explosion. Stuff flies everywhere. Some of 345 00:17:42,880 --> 00:17:46,560 Speaker 1: that stuff flies into outer space. Right. You can knock 346 00:17:46,600 --> 00:17:48,320 Speaker 1: a rock off the surface of a planet if you 347 00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:50,040 Speaker 1: hit it hard enough, and it would just go out 348 00:17:50,040 --> 00:17:53,440 Speaker 1: into space, float around the Solar System and land in 349 00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:55,560 Speaker 1: our planet. Yeah, and not all of them, of course, 350 00:17:55,600 --> 00:17:57,119 Speaker 1: would land on our planet. Most of them would just 351 00:17:57,160 --> 00:18:00,080 Speaker 1: float in space forever. But occasionally some of them will it. 352 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:03,159 Speaker 1: And we know that this happens, like, for a fact, 353 00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:06,080 Speaker 1: we have rocks that we found on Earth that we 354 00:18:06,119 --> 00:18:09,000 Speaker 1: are sure came from Mars, so we know that this 355 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:10,720 Speaker 1: is a thing. Wait, how do how do we know 356 00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:12,520 Speaker 1: they're from Mars? Do they have a little like a 357 00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:15,720 Speaker 1: made in Mars? It's the return postmark. Of course, it's 358 00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:18,719 Speaker 1: not so complicated. Um No, we can look at it, 359 00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:20,760 Speaker 1: the chemistry of it and the geology of it, and 360 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:23,640 Speaker 1: they're just totally different from Earth rocks, and there's completely 361 00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:25,919 Speaker 1: consistent with what we think Mars rocks look like. And 362 00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:29,159 Speaker 1: you know, we've sent um robots to Mars. We've studied them, 363 00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:32,280 Speaker 1: so we know something about Martian geology and these rocks 364 00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:34,480 Speaker 1: just could not have formed on Earth and they're totally 365 00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:38,080 Speaker 1: consistent with rocks forming on Mars. So we have in 366 00:18:38,119 --> 00:18:41,760 Speaker 1: our labs rocks from Mars, right Like, we haven't been there, 367 00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:45,280 Speaker 1: but we already have pieces of it. So it's possible 368 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:47,480 Speaker 1: that maybe you know, there was a little microbe who 369 00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:49,800 Speaker 1: went to sleep at night in his little rock or 370 00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:53,400 Speaker 1: her rock home. Something happened and the next day here 371 00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:56,560 Speaker 1: she woke up on Earth. Yeah that's right, probably the 372 00:18:56,600 --> 00:18:59,520 Speaker 1: next thousands of years. But you know, and microbes can 373 00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:02,639 Speaker 1: live along time and they can just go to sleep, 374 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:05,240 Speaker 1: and a lot of them can survive crazy things. I mean, 375 00:19:05,280 --> 00:19:07,760 Speaker 1: there are microbes living on the outside of the International 376 00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:11,960 Speaker 1: Space Station right now. It's almost impossible to eradicate all 377 00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:14,600 Speaker 1: life from anything. I mean, you zap it with radiation, 378 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:17,760 Speaker 1: you'll find a few microbes that are radiation hard. You 379 00:19:17,880 --> 00:19:20,520 Speaker 1: heat them up. You'll find some microbes that really like 380 00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:23,240 Speaker 1: it hot and dry them out. You'll find microbes that 381 00:19:23,320 --> 00:19:26,720 Speaker 1: can live in dry environments. It's crazy. So someone could 382 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:29,520 Speaker 1: have survived the impact of an asteroid thrown into space, 383 00:19:29,600 --> 00:19:33,080 Speaker 1: surviving the cold and vacuum, survived the entry into Earth, 384 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:35,359 Speaker 1: and then come out and be like, hey, this is 385 00:19:35,359 --> 00:19:38,480 Speaker 1: my new house. That's right. That thing has a great backstory. 386 00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:41,600 Speaker 1: Let me tell you there was a moment about what 387 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:44,280 Speaker 1: is it now, twenty years ago when NASA thought they 388 00:19:44,280 --> 00:19:48,000 Speaker 1: actually had discovered evidence of life from a Martian rock, 389 00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:50,840 Speaker 1: right like a rock that came from Mars with evidence 390 00:19:50,840 --> 00:19:52,640 Speaker 1: of life in it. This was a pretty exciting moment. 391 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:57,000 Speaker 1: People freaked out. Yeah, because NASA went and gave a 392 00:19:57,080 --> 00:19:59,760 Speaker 1: press release and said, we have this rock we're pretty 393 00:19:59,760 --> 00:20:02,040 Speaker 1: sure came from Mars, and when we cut it open, 394 00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:04,480 Speaker 1: we found these things in it that we think could 395 00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:07,600 Speaker 1: only be explained by life. They were these tiny little 396 00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:10,680 Speaker 1: shapes that looked like bacteria. They were much smaller than 397 00:20:10,760 --> 00:20:13,639 Speaker 1: Earth bacteria, but you know, you could imagine maybe this 398 00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:15,800 Speaker 1: is what life looks like on Mars. And so they 399 00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:19,679 Speaker 1: were pretty excited about it. But then what happened They 400 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:23,160 Speaker 1: discovered that it was not actually microft tracks. Yeah. Well, 401 00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:25,919 Speaker 1: the scientists who suggested it, they still believed that it 402 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:28,159 Speaker 1: was evidence for life, and to them it was the 403 00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:31,080 Speaker 1: most compelling story. But you know, in science, a pretty 404 00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:34,400 Speaker 1: big claim requires pretty big evidence, right, And so other 405 00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:36,880 Speaker 1: people dug into it and they came up with explanations 406 00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:40,520 Speaker 1: for how you could form those shapes using non organic 407 00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:44,800 Speaker 1: um processes, you know, just geological processes. Crystal formation could 408 00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:47,639 Speaker 1: give you this, and this kind of geology could give 409 00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:49,840 Speaker 1: you that, and so the rock could just naturally have 410 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:52,600 Speaker 1: these formations. Yeah, they found plausible ways to make the 411 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:56,960 Speaker 1: same thing without having to have microbial life. Yeah, which 412 00:20:56,960 --> 00:20:58,399 Speaker 1: is a bit of a bummer. It's a bummer that 413 00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:00,520 Speaker 1: we're not Martians. Well, it's a bum to not have 414 00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:02,280 Speaker 1: discovered life on Mars. I mean, that would be an 415 00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:05,199 Speaker 1: incredible moment, right to know that there was life on 416 00:21:05,240 --> 00:21:08,040 Speaker 1: another planet. But of course it still wouldn't answer the question. 417 00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:11,040 Speaker 1: Even if you found a rock with life from Mars 418 00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:13,639 Speaker 1: on it, you still wouldn't know did life come to 419 00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:16,320 Speaker 1: Earth from Mars, because then you've established that there's a 420 00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:19,320 Speaker 1: transport mechanism, or did it start on Earth and then 421 00:21:19,359 --> 00:21:22,159 Speaker 1: go to Mars and then come back, right, It wouldn't 422 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:25,200 Speaker 1: answer that question. Yeah, but there's still also just the possibility. 423 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:27,480 Speaker 1: I mean, they've proven that you can make these formations 424 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:30,479 Speaker 1: some other ways, but that doesn't mean that necessarily that 425 00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:32,919 Speaker 1: those were not made by microbes. Right. It could be 426 00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:35,080 Speaker 1: that we're looking at evidence of life on Mars. We 427 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:38,479 Speaker 1: just can't prove it, right, That's the problem is. And 428 00:21:38,520 --> 00:21:40,359 Speaker 1: before you're going to accept that, you really got to 429 00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:43,119 Speaker 1: have pretty solid evidence. You've gotta have something which is 430 00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:46,440 Speaker 1: unique to life, right, And so before you're going to 431 00:21:46,520 --> 00:21:49,040 Speaker 1: believe that there really is life or was life on Mars, 432 00:21:49,320 --> 00:21:51,440 Speaker 1: I think you gotta really see it. You gotta get there. 433 00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:53,480 Speaker 1: You gotta get some in your hands. You gotta life, 434 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:55,560 Speaker 1: you know, play with it, see it move. You gotta 435 00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:58,480 Speaker 1: really be convinced. Chickens papers. Make sure it came from 436 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:08,840 Speaker 1: birth certificate, you know, social Security number exactly. So we 437 00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:10,320 Speaker 1: think there might have been life on Mars a long, long 438 00:22:10,240 --> 00:22:13,600 Speaker 1: long time ago, right, And Mars used to look really different. Yeah, 439 00:22:13,680 --> 00:22:16,280 Speaker 1: it was more fertile, it was more sort of prone 440 00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:18,200 Speaker 1: to have life, that's right. Yeah it was. It was 441 00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:21,199 Speaker 1: a happy place to be, but not anymore. And the 442 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:26,040 Speaker 1: thing that happened is that Mars lost its atmosphere. Something 443 00:22:26,119 --> 00:22:28,560 Speaker 1: happened that made it all sort of proof away. Yeah. 444 00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:31,320 Speaker 1: The atmosphere, the thing that would keep the surface warm 445 00:22:31,600 --> 00:22:34,160 Speaker 1: and have to have liquid water and you know, provide 446 00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:37,280 Speaker 1: the nutrients that life would need. That atmosphere got blown 447 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:40,240 Speaker 1: away by the solar wind. See, on Earth, we have 448 00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:43,400 Speaker 1: an atmosphere, and our atmosphere is protected from the solar wind. 449 00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:45,679 Speaker 1: The solar wind is just like a huge flow of 450 00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:48,399 Speaker 1: radiation from the Sun. The thing that protects us from 451 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:52,080 Speaker 1: the solar wind is our magnetic field, right. Mostly the 452 00:22:52,119 --> 00:22:54,520 Speaker 1: solar wind is charged particles being shot at us from 453 00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:57,359 Speaker 1: the Sun. But charged particles get bent in magnetic field, 454 00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:00,080 Speaker 1: and so our magnetic field mostly deflects them, and some 455 00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:01,639 Speaker 1: of them spiral down. And that's what you see in 456 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:04,440 Speaker 1: the northern lights, right, is all these charged particles hitting 457 00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:07,640 Speaker 1: the atmosphere. It's like the Sun is shooting a giant 458 00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:09,960 Speaker 1: death ray at us. But we have some sort of 459 00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:12,879 Speaker 1: force field basically, right, we have like a special force 460 00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:15,840 Speaker 1: field that deflects it. Yeah. Literally, the Sun is the 461 00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:21,840 Speaker 1: death Star's fully operational and it's blasting us all the time. 462 00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:24,280 Speaker 1: And if we didn't have the magnetic field, then yeah, 463 00:23:24,359 --> 00:23:27,359 Speaker 1: we'd be in trouble because it would slowly eat away 464 00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:29,960 Speaker 1: at our atmosphere, would just strip it away, which is 465 00:23:30,359 --> 00:23:33,520 Speaker 1: blast walled our oxygen and air, and we'll be totally 466 00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:36,240 Speaker 1: exposed to those rates exactly, and then the temperature on 467 00:23:36,280 --> 00:23:38,080 Speaker 1: Earth would plummet and all of that stuff. And that's 468 00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:40,720 Speaker 1: what happened to Mars. We don't know why, just like 469 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:42,760 Speaker 1: we don't have a great understanding of why Earth has 470 00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:44,879 Speaker 1: a magnetic field and why it flips. And you know, 471 00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:47,840 Speaker 1: we should do a podcast on that another time. But Mars, 472 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:49,920 Speaker 1: we think had a magnetic field, which is why it 473 00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:52,760 Speaker 1: had an atmosphere, and then it lost it and it 474 00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:55,000 Speaker 1: might have been that it just cooled down and whatever 475 00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:58,640 Speaker 1: was happening inside Mars that you know, gyro magnetism that 476 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:02,000 Speaker 1: created the magnetic field inside Mars just sort of stopped 477 00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:04,440 Speaker 1: and it lost its magnetic field, which means it lost 478 00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:06,679 Speaker 1: its its shield from the death star, which means it 479 00:24:06,840 --> 00:24:10,600 Speaker 1: lost its atmosphere dot dot dot, and then it got 480 00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:12,480 Speaker 1: blasted by the death ray from the Sun. And it 481 00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:17,440 Speaker 1: is what it is today, which is pretty barren and inhospitable, right, yeah, 482 00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:19,480 Speaker 1: And so it has an atmosphere today like you were saying, 483 00:24:19,520 --> 00:24:22,800 Speaker 1: but it's really thin, right. There's hardly any gas surrounding Mars, 484 00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:25,720 Speaker 1: so there's not enough to keep the surface warm. Right, 485 00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:28,280 Speaker 1: So if you go to Mars today, you wouldn't recognize 486 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:29,960 Speaker 1: it from billions of years ago. You know, if if 487 00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:31,920 Speaker 1: life started on Mars and came to Earth and then 488 00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:33,800 Speaker 1: wanted to go home, it would be like, this is 489 00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:38,880 Speaker 1: not the Mars. I know, what have you done? Who 490 00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:44,320 Speaker 1: turned off the magnetic field? No, it's totally it's a 491 00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:46,960 Speaker 1: post apocalyptic healthscape I'm compared to what it used to 492 00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:49,960 Speaker 1: look like. But there could still be life there now, right, 493 00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:52,359 Speaker 1: That's right. We have not ruled out the possibility that 494 00:24:52,359 --> 00:24:55,760 Speaker 1: there could still be somehow life surviving on the surface, because, 495 00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:58,440 Speaker 1: as we said earlier, life finds a way to survive. 496 00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:00,959 Speaker 1: You know, once you have a planet that's just covered 497 00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:04,399 Speaker 1: in gazillions of microbes, they have a huge diversity, and 498 00:25:04,440 --> 00:25:07,640 Speaker 1: even in an enormous cataclysm, it's almost impossible to wipe 499 00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:10,120 Speaker 1: them out completely. Some of them will survive. And so 500 00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:12,840 Speaker 1: even though Mars lost its its magnetic field, it may 501 00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:15,560 Speaker 1: mean that there's no more life on the surface, right, 502 00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:17,600 Speaker 1: because it's no more liquid water on the surface, But 503 00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:20,200 Speaker 1: there could still be life on Mars. Right. What does 504 00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:24,520 Speaker 1: life need? It needs water, it needs nutrients, it needs um, 505 00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:26,560 Speaker 1: you know, not a whole lot of toxins. It needs 506 00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:29,760 Speaker 1: protection from radiation, some sort of a heat source, right, 507 00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:32,000 Speaker 1: A little bit of warmth, yeah, a little bit of warmth, 508 00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:34,040 Speaker 1: but you know, not too much, just enough to have 509 00:25:34,119 --> 00:25:36,840 Speaker 1: your water be liquid basically, and you know, a huge 510 00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:39,560 Speaker 1: caveat Somebody out there is probably thinking, hold on a second, 511 00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:43,040 Speaker 1: they're just talking about Earth like life, right, life like 512 00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:46,040 Speaker 1: it lived, like it exists on Earth. Whoever, you are 513 00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:48,720 Speaker 1: out there driving in your car thinking that we're totally crazy, 514 00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:52,000 Speaker 1: You're right, We're talking about Earth like life, because that's 515 00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:54,320 Speaker 1: the only life we know, and there's a possibility that 516 00:25:54,359 --> 00:25:56,879 Speaker 1: life could exist in completely different forms, you know, that 517 00:25:57,119 --> 00:26:00,440 Speaker 1: doesn't require liquid water and operates on geology called time 518 00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:02,760 Speaker 1: scales and frozen water. But you know, we're gonna have 519 00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:04,960 Speaker 1: to put that aside because it's so alien we can't 520 00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:08,000 Speaker 1: even really explore it or consider it or discover it. Right, 521 00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:11,280 Speaker 1: So for now, let's just think about earthlike life. Yeah, well, 522 00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:13,760 Speaker 1: let's talk about what we know about Mars and what 523 00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:30,080 Speaker 1: we can see today. But first let's take a quick break, okay, Daniel, 524 00:26:30,119 --> 00:26:32,679 Speaker 1: So what do we know about Mars today? Like, what 525 00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:34,800 Speaker 1: can we see that might lead us to believe there 526 00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:38,520 Speaker 1: are microbes or maybe little green men hiding hiding under 527 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:40,520 Speaker 1: the surface that we can't see. Oh I wish they 528 00:26:40,560 --> 00:26:42,480 Speaker 1: were a little green men hiding onto the surface of Mars. 529 00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:45,320 Speaker 1: That would be amazing, right, what a discovery that would be. Well, 530 00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:48,640 Speaker 1: I know there's robots on the surface of Mars. There 531 00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:50,679 Speaker 1: are a few robots driving around Mars, but those are 532 00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:54,480 Speaker 1: Earth robots, Um there are I love these cartoons that 533 00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:57,919 Speaker 1: show like little green men hiding behind rocks to the 534 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:01,159 Speaker 1: cameras from the rowers, right, like they're there, they're just 535 00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:04,000 Speaker 1: camera shy, yeah exactly. But you know, we have more 536 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:06,760 Speaker 1: than just robots driving on the surface. We also have 537 00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:10,560 Speaker 1: satellites orbiting Mars and imaging surface and comparing the picture 538 00:27:10,600 --> 00:27:13,240 Speaker 1: today to yesterday. And so we're looking, Yeah, we're looking 539 00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:14,879 Speaker 1: if anything moved on the surface of Mars, and we 540 00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:17,159 Speaker 1: would notice, you know, it would not be hard to 541 00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:20,000 Speaker 1: spot some sort of activity. So we don't see any 542 00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:24,480 Speaker 1: movement or structures built by any civilizations or it just 543 00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:27,120 Speaker 1: looks like a big red rock. Yeah. What we see 544 00:27:27,119 --> 00:27:30,560 Speaker 1: our structures that look like you know, water flow canals 545 00:27:30,600 --> 00:27:33,800 Speaker 1: and geological formations, and so there's some activity on Mars, 546 00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:38,040 Speaker 1: but none of it seems to be like due to life. Absolutely. 547 00:27:38,119 --> 00:27:40,960 Speaker 1: So there's no large macroscopic life on Mars, which is 548 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:42,760 Speaker 1: a bummer, you know, because that would have been awesome. 549 00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:45,800 Speaker 1: Um and you know, maybe Martian scientists could have tossed 550 00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:49,280 Speaker 1: the secrets of the universe, but that's not in the cards, 551 00:27:49,400 --> 00:27:52,320 Speaker 1: right that we can see, Right, that's kind of key. 552 00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:54,359 Speaker 1: On the surface, there aren't any that we can see. 553 00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:57,640 Speaker 1: But but it's hard to imagine though, like a technological 554 00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:01,120 Speaker 1: civilization living under the surface of Mars, and no presence 555 00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:03,280 Speaker 1: on the surface. I mean, imagine that was you. Right, 556 00:28:03,800 --> 00:28:06,240 Speaker 1: you have a civilization on the surface of Mars. It's thriving, 557 00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:08,760 Speaker 1: it's exciting. You know, life is good. You have you know, 558 00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:10,760 Speaker 1: fun plans on the weekend. All of a sudden, you 559 00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:13,199 Speaker 1: lose your magnetic field. The atmosphere starts stripping away, the 560 00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:16,879 Speaker 1: temperatures plummeting. You decided to go underground. Right, Still, you're 561 00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:19,080 Speaker 1: gonna want to have something on the surface to collect, 562 00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:22,000 Speaker 1: like solar power or something. Right, You're gonna leave some 563 00:28:22,119 --> 00:28:24,640 Speaker 1: evidence on the surface of the fact that we used 564 00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:28,440 Speaker 1: to be there. We see nothing, just natural rock. Yeah, 565 00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:30,960 Speaker 1: it's a fun concept for somebody's science fiction novel that 566 00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:34,439 Speaker 1: there could be today technological civilizations on the inside of Mars. 567 00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:37,800 Speaker 1: But I put it on a pretty low probability. Um, 568 00:28:37,840 --> 00:28:41,080 Speaker 1: but there is the possibility that microbial life could have 569 00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:45,480 Speaker 1: survived underground, so there could be an inside of the 570 00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:48,680 Speaker 1: rock instead of the dirt in Mars. There could be little, 571 00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:52,080 Speaker 1: little green microbes. Yeah. And the reason that we think 572 00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:55,520 Speaker 1: that the real possibility is that NASA has discovered water 573 00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:58,960 Speaker 1: on Mars. Liquid water, so not on the surface, because 574 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:00,520 Speaker 1: on the surface is so cold that if you like 575 00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:03,160 Speaker 1: if you spat it would freeze in a crystal before 576 00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:05,800 Speaker 1: it hit the ground, right or evaporate right or evaporate 577 00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:09,400 Speaker 1: probably is probably more more realistic. But under the ground 578 00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:11,960 Speaker 1: it's warmer and it's protected from you know, all sorts 579 00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:16,080 Speaker 1: of radiation, etcetera, etcetera. And they found evidence of a lake, 580 00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:20,120 Speaker 1: huge lake of liquid water underground. But it's like a 581 00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:23,880 Speaker 1: mile underground. It's not like just under the surface. It's deep, 582 00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:26,280 Speaker 1: deep underground. How did they see it? How did they 583 00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:28,600 Speaker 1: know it's there? Yeah, they can see it by studying, 584 00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:31,480 Speaker 1: by using radar, I think. So they have ground penetrating 585 00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:33,640 Speaker 1: radar and all sorts of clever stuff to see what's 586 00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:37,200 Speaker 1: under the rock. So there could be like martian dolphins 587 00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:41,680 Speaker 1: swimming around in there in these caves. It'd be pretty dark. 588 00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:43,520 Speaker 1: I don't know how dolphins would survive and what they 589 00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:46,200 Speaker 1: would eat. I think much more likely is that there's 590 00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:50,840 Speaker 1: martian microbes right whatever. However, life started billions of years 591 00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:53,600 Speaker 1: ago could have survived on Mars. In turn, in these 592 00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:57,280 Speaker 1: lakes that are underground. Because there's liquid water, the ground 593 00:29:57,320 --> 00:29:59,720 Speaker 1: itself protects them from the radiation of the sun right 594 00:29:59,720 --> 00:30:02,200 Speaker 1: at the prays and so as long as they can 595 00:30:02,200 --> 00:30:04,760 Speaker 1: find some nutrients. And um, you know my wife, she's 596 00:30:04,800 --> 00:30:08,920 Speaker 1: a biochemist. She's always telling me that microbes can eat anything. Right, 597 00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:12,160 Speaker 1: there's nothing, no situation in which microbes can't find something 598 00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:15,400 Speaker 1: to extract energy from. Right. It's the opposite of children. 599 00:30:15,440 --> 00:30:19,600 Speaker 1: They won't eat anything. That's why I keep telling it. 600 00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:25,600 Speaker 1: We should have had microbes for kids and feed if 601 00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:29,840 Speaker 1: only I know, I know. Um. And there's also other 602 00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:33,440 Speaker 1: exciting information, like we actually have some clues that suggest 603 00:30:33,480 --> 00:30:36,240 Speaker 1: that there's life on Mars, not just the possibility. Oh 604 00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:38,680 Speaker 1: there's water, so there further could be there are other 605 00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:40,360 Speaker 1: things you can do look for life on Mars, which 606 00:30:40,400 --> 00:30:43,760 Speaker 1: is to look for biomarkers. Like if life exists, then 607 00:30:43,760 --> 00:30:45,840 Speaker 1: it has to have some sort of metabolism. Right, there's 608 00:30:45,880 --> 00:30:48,719 Speaker 1: like a process there. You know, it's eating something, it's 609 00:30:48,760 --> 00:30:52,479 Speaker 1: pooping something like their breath. Yeah there, yeah, exactly. And 610 00:30:52,520 --> 00:30:55,160 Speaker 1: so what we've done is we've looked at the atmosphere 611 00:30:55,160 --> 00:30:58,040 Speaker 1: of Mars and we've seen methane in the atmosphere. The 612 00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:00,000 Speaker 1: methane is not long lived, and so if you see 613 00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:02,920 Speaker 1: in the atmosphere, it means it was produced fairly recently. 614 00:31:03,120 --> 00:31:05,080 Speaker 1: But I mean it's not long lived like it it 615 00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:08,320 Speaker 1: goes away and it disappears. It breaks down. Yeah, it's 616 00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:11,160 Speaker 1: not stable. It breaks down the atmosphere under under sunlight 617 00:31:11,200 --> 00:31:13,320 Speaker 1: interaction with other things. Now, so we see these sort 618 00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:17,400 Speaker 1: of clouds methane appear and then they break down. So 619 00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:20,480 Speaker 1: something must be making this methane. Yeah, And there's some 620 00:31:20,520 --> 00:31:23,040 Speaker 1: explanations just you know that are that don't involve life, 621 00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:26,160 Speaker 1: like volcanic activity or whatever whatever. But the interesting thing 622 00:31:26,600 --> 00:31:30,320 Speaker 1: is that the methane produced on Mars varies with the seasons, 623 00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:33,280 Speaker 1: and so like you know, it's more in one season 624 00:31:33,360 --> 00:31:35,480 Speaker 1: and less in another season. Like you know, it's a 625 00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:37,320 Speaker 1: lot more in the summer and less in the winter. 626 00:31:37,640 --> 00:31:40,200 Speaker 1: And that suggests it's very suggestive of some sort of 627 00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:43,560 Speaker 1: biological process, right, as these things like sleep during the 628 00:31:43,560 --> 00:31:45,440 Speaker 1: winter and then wake up in the summer and eat 629 00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:48,160 Speaker 1: and fart a lot, because man, that's what methane is, right. 630 00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:50,680 Speaker 1: You'd be there and be like, m hmm, it's farting season. 631 00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:55,280 Speaker 1: Somehow in this podcast we always end up coming back 632 00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:58,200 Speaker 1: to farts. We should have called this for podcast farts 633 00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:02,480 Speaker 1: in science. Yeah, but our farts Mars called Mars. They're 634 00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:08,880 Speaker 1: called farshions. Um, so that's pretty tantalizing evidence, right, That 635 00:32:08,920 --> 00:32:11,720 Speaker 1: sells there's something going on that produces methane on a 636 00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:14,680 Speaker 1: seasonal scale. And it could just be volcanic activity that's 637 00:32:14,680 --> 00:32:16,840 Speaker 1: triggered by the Sun. There are some it could be 638 00:32:16,920 --> 00:32:19,600 Speaker 1: Mars itself, it's farting. It could be like the planet 639 00:32:19,680 --> 00:32:23,800 Speaker 1: is farting, like releasing we are smelling Mars's buttle exactly. 640 00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:26,960 Speaker 1: That could be the scenario. I think he went too farther. 641 00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:34,480 Speaker 1: I think they might have to edit that one out. Well. 642 00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:36,320 Speaker 1: I like this idea that you brought up the other day, 643 00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:39,040 Speaker 1: which is that, um, you know, we're sending these robots 644 00:32:39,080 --> 00:32:40,920 Speaker 1: to Mars, and you know, we try to clean in 645 00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:43,600 Speaker 1: them and clean them and disinfect them, but it could 646 00:32:43,640 --> 00:32:48,560 Speaker 1: be that we're accidentally sending life to Mars with these robots. Yeah, 647 00:32:48,600 --> 00:32:53,360 Speaker 1: almost certainly actually, because it's almost impossible to completely clean something. 648 00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:55,719 Speaker 1: Right you build on Earth, it's going to be covered 649 00:32:55,760 --> 00:32:58,840 Speaker 1: in Earth microups. I mean, they developed like special sprays 650 00:32:58,960 --> 00:33:02,080 Speaker 1: to disinfect this stuff, like super kill everything sprays, and 651 00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:04,880 Speaker 1: they sprayed on these satellites and then they discover, oh, 652 00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:07,120 Speaker 1: there's a kind of bug on these satellites that eats 653 00:33:07,160 --> 00:33:10,800 Speaker 1: that spread. It's like, I'm young, give me more, right, 654 00:33:11,680 --> 00:33:14,400 Speaker 1: So it's it's and you can shoot it with radiation. 655 00:33:14,440 --> 00:33:17,080 Speaker 1: You can do everything you like. It's almost impossible, which 656 00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:19,920 Speaker 1: means that when we send something to Mars, these rovers, 657 00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:22,600 Speaker 1: we are sending life to Mars. So is there life 658 00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:26,480 Speaker 1: on Mars? Well, almost certainly an earth microbe was sent there. Yes, 659 00:33:26,840 --> 00:33:29,560 Speaker 1: did it survive? Could it? Could it reproduce? Has it 660 00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:32,600 Speaker 1: like tainted Mars is going to colonize Mars and by 661 00:33:32,640 --> 00:33:34,280 Speaker 1: the time we get over there, it's gonna be covered 662 00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:36,800 Speaker 1: in Earth microbes. I don't think so, but you know 663 00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:39,720 Speaker 1: we It sort of muddles the question. And it's actually 664 00:33:39,840 --> 00:33:42,360 Speaker 1: zones on Mars where you're not allowed to send probes 665 00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:45,640 Speaker 1: because they're trying to keep it free from contamination. Wow. 666 00:33:45,720 --> 00:33:47,920 Speaker 1: So that's a huge twist. I mean, the answer to 667 00:33:47,960 --> 00:33:50,880 Speaker 1: the question is their life and Mars. You would think 668 00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:53,120 Speaker 1: it would be no, but the answer is yes, and 669 00:33:53,280 --> 00:33:55,080 Speaker 1: we put it there. I don't know that we can 670 00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:57,480 Speaker 1: say confidently if there are microbes on the surface of 671 00:33:57,520 --> 00:33:59,880 Speaker 1: those rovers, but I wouldn't bet against it. Yeah, I 672 00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:01,880 Speaker 1: wouldn't bet against it. So let me get to say 673 00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:04,520 Speaker 1: this is a total possibility life started on Mars a 674 00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:08,800 Speaker 1: long time ago, came to Earth through some freak asteroid accident, 675 00:34:09,320 --> 00:34:13,000 Speaker 1: evolved into us. We build robots and rocket chips, and 676 00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:15,880 Speaker 1: they put life back on Mars after there was this 677 00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:18,279 Speaker 1: apocalypse there. Yeah, and maybe that was their whole plan. 678 00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:20,399 Speaker 1: They saw this apocalypse coming and they're like, let's ride 679 00:34:20,880 --> 00:34:22,799 Speaker 1: a rock to Earth and then come back in a 680 00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:26,120 Speaker 1: billion years, you know, return to Mars. That's the title 681 00:34:26,160 --> 00:34:29,359 Speaker 1: of the sci fi novel we're writing. Yeah, And I 682 00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:31,920 Speaker 1: just think it's a fascinating question. And if we could 683 00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:34,160 Speaker 1: find microbs on Mars, I mean, say we send people 684 00:34:34,200 --> 00:34:36,600 Speaker 1: over there, or we get a sample of it, we 685 00:34:36,680 --> 00:34:38,560 Speaker 1: dig down a mile to even get a sample and 686 00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:40,440 Speaker 1: bring it back, then we could start to answer some 687 00:34:40,480 --> 00:34:43,239 Speaker 1: really interesting questions just by studying that life, right, Like, 688 00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:46,279 Speaker 1: is it um, RNA and DNA based the way our 689 00:34:46,320 --> 00:34:49,360 Speaker 1: life is? Is it similar? If it was totally different, 690 00:34:49,360 --> 00:34:52,600 Speaker 1: completely biochemically different, Wow, that would be fascinating because it 691 00:34:52,600 --> 00:34:55,279 Speaker 1: would mean there's different ways to build life. If it's 692 00:34:55,280 --> 00:34:58,080 Speaker 1: the same, that means either there's only one way to 693 00:34:58,120 --> 00:35:00,759 Speaker 1: build life and it happened in parallel and from places, 694 00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:03,160 Speaker 1: or it started in one place and went to the 695 00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:05,680 Speaker 1: other and man, there's so many amazing threads that you 696 00:35:05,680 --> 00:35:08,560 Speaker 1: could unravel if we just had a sample of that 697 00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:11,680 Speaker 1: lake from underground on on on Mars. Well, and the 698 00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:14,319 Speaker 1: answer in all these cases would be mind blowing. Right, 699 00:35:14,560 --> 00:35:18,239 Speaker 1: we're either super unique, we were either Martians, or there 700 00:35:18,320 --> 00:35:20,839 Speaker 1: is a totally different way to make life. Yeah, and 701 00:35:20,880 --> 00:35:23,600 Speaker 1: the facts are there right like right now, there could 702 00:35:23,640 --> 00:35:26,919 Speaker 1: be microbs wiggling around on Mars. And you know, it's 703 00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:29,080 Speaker 1: not that hard to get there. We have the technology, 704 00:35:29,160 --> 00:35:31,520 Speaker 1: we just lacked sort of the political will. You know, 705 00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:34,040 Speaker 1: it's amazing to meet these moments when you have the 706 00:35:34,040 --> 00:35:36,400 Speaker 1: technology and all you need to do is get the money, 707 00:35:36,520 --> 00:35:39,400 Speaker 1: and you could just buy the answers to deep secrets 708 00:35:39,400 --> 00:35:42,080 Speaker 1: about the universe. Right, it cost a few billion bucks 709 00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:44,600 Speaker 1: or whatever, but we could do it. If Congress and 710 00:35:44,640 --> 00:35:47,680 Speaker 1: the President decided this is important, let's do it, that 711 00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:50,160 Speaker 1: you could do it. So we have the opportunity we 712 00:35:50,160 --> 00:35:54,640 Speaker 1: could buy this knowledge. We just aren't all right, Well, tonight, 713 00:35:55,520 --> 00:35:56,880 Speaker 1: if you go out there and look at the night 714 00:35:56,920 --> 00:35:58,759 Speaker 1: s guy, you know, look up in an app of 715 00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:01,120 Speaker 1: where Mars is right now, and if you can look 716 00:36:01,160 --> 00:36:03,279 Speaker 1: at it at night, so you can go out there, 717 00:36:03,520 --> 00:36:06,680 Speaker 1: grab a Mars bars, eat it and look up at 718 00:36:06,680 --> 00:36:10,080 Speaker 1: that red planet and and smell it's farts. Yeah, or 719 00:36:10,160 --> 00:36:13,200 Speaker 1: turn around and send some farts to Mars and maybe 720 00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:21,440 Speaker 1: maybe that's the way they communicate farts is space. On 721 00:36:21,600 --> 00:36:32,280 Speaker 1: that note, if you still have a question after listening 722 00:36:32,320 --> 00:36:35,400 Speaker 1: to all these explanations, please drop us a line. We'd 723 00:36:35,440 --> 00:36:38,280 Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can find us at Facebook, Twitter, 724 00:36:38,360 --> 00:36:42,000 Speaker 1: and Instagram at Daniel and Jorge That's one word, or 725 00:36:42,160 --> 00:36:54,560 Speaker 1: email us at Feedback at Daniel and Jorge dot com.