'Alien thigh bone' on Mars: Excitement
from alien hunters at 'evidence' of
extraterrestrial life
'Normally, I see rocks as rocks,'
said one commenter, 'This can't be a
thigh bone, can it?'
By JAMES VINCENT
Friday 22 August 2014
More than two years into the Curiosity
rover’s lonely trek across Mars,
conspiracy theorists believe they’ve
struck gold: an ‘alien thigh bone’ has
been spotted on the surface of the red
planet.
For keen alien hunters, the image above
- taken by the rover’s MastCam on
August 14 – is proof that large animals
once roamed Mars, possibly even
dinosaurs.
“Simply put this shows that there were
some living things on the Mars (sic),”
asserts an anonymous editorial writer at
Northern Voices Online , while the
popular site UFO Blogger compares the
find to previous images of a “ fossilized,
reptilian spine” and a “ human finger”.
The regularity of these ‘finds’ is of course
testament not to the once-flourishing
wildlife of Mars, but to the human
brain’s remarkable capacity to spot
patterns in random noise.
This was a handy trait for our ancestors
when identifying a potential predator
among the primeval foliage, but in
modern times it’s more likely to lead
only to those little ‘huh’ moments when
we spot a face in some inanimate object .
Of course, there is some truth to
conspiracy theorists’ hopes of life on
Mars, with scientists pointing out last
year that the asteroid impact that killed
of the dinosaurs could have flung rocks
carrying organic matter to the red planet
some 66 million years ago.
Unfortunately, at this point (and for
roughly 3 billion years prior) Mars was a
barren place with no flowing water.
However, if the microorganisms from
Earth had hitched a ride to somewhere a
little more hospitable, like Europa then it
could be a different matter altogether .
Read more: Could the oceans of Jupiter's
moon be hiding extraterrestrial life?
Scientists say 'don't worry, it's normal
to see Jesus on a slice of toast'
See more at
here
