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News last week that liquid water has been found on Mars seems to have genuinely excited the scientific/nerd community but has failed to really catch on mainstream. Here’s my take. This, actually, is a big deal.
We have known for some time that landforms on the Martian surface contained evidence of running water but, until now, we thought maybe these dry creek beds were millions of years old. The presence of liquid water on the Martian surface gets us one step closer to being able to identify an alien life form. Even if it is just microbial, the discovery of life on another planet will dramatically reshape philosophy as it pertains to our very existence.
In the Victorian Age, evidence that humans had evolved from “apes” was at best a laugh and at worst a big embarrassment. Perhaps a further reminder that we humans are not as big of a deal as some of us seem to think we are would help us become better stewards of the planet home to our particular form of life.
