Don't really think this fits here all that well, but just had to copy this article I just read... Sounds all too typical of today's science -

Modified Plant May Send Glowing Messages From Mars

By Paul Kimpel Daily University Science News In what reads like a story from a 1950s science fiction magazine, a team of University of Florida scientists has genetically modified a tiny plant to send reports back from Mars in a most unworldly way: by emitting an eerie, fluorescent glow.

If all goes as planned, 10 varieties of the plant could be on their way to the Red Planet as part of a $300 million mission scheduled for 2007.

The plant experiment, which is funded by $290,000 from NASA's Human Exploration and Development in Space program, may be a first step toward making Mars habitable for humans, said Rob Ferl, assistant director of the Biotechnology Program at UF.

Ferl and a team of molecular biologists chose as their subject the Arabidopsis mustard plant. They picked it, Ferl said, because of three attributes that make it ideally suited for the Mars mission: Its maximum height is 8 inches, its life cycle is only one month and its entire genome has been mapped. Moreover, in December 2000 it became the first plant to have its genetic sequence completed.

To create the glow, the team will insert reporter genes" into varieties of the plant, which will express themselves by emitting a green glow under adverse conditions on Mars. Each reporter gene will react to an environmental stressor such as drought, disease or temperature. For example, one version will glow an incandescent green if it detects an excess of heavy metals in the Martian soil; another will turn blue in the presence of peroxides.

In fact, one of the reporter genes itself is somewhat otherwordly, having come from the depths of the ocean. "What makes the plants glow blue is a protein derived from an incandescent jellyfish whose DNA is spliced into the mustard plant," Ferl said. "The implanted DNA then synthesizes the iridescent blue protein in the plant, which expresses itself under stress."

Ferl's team, in collaboration with Andrew Schuerger, a manager of Mars projects at the Kennedy Space Center-based Dynamac Corp., is competing with other biologists to receive the NASA contract for the Mars trip.

But both men, who also are professors at UF's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, have worked with NASA before. In 1999, Ferl sent 40 reporter-gene plants into orbit aboard the space shuttle. On that flight, gravity had an adverse effect on the plants' ability to utilize water, a condition called "space adaptation syndrome."

The scientists are using that experience to engineer smarter plants.

"Just like humans, plants must learn how to adapt to a new environment," Ferl said. "We are using genetics to create plants that have the ability to give us data we can use to help them survive."

The 2 1/2-year Mars mission -- nine months traveling 286 million miles each way and one year stationed on the planet -- would work like this: The seeds of the plant would make the trip aboard a spacecraft similar to NASA's Mars Odyssey, which was launched April 7.

Upon arrival, the landing vehicle's robot would scoop up a portion of Martian soil, and the scientists will analyze it using the robot and a specialized camera.

After modifying the soil with fertilizers, buffers and nutrients, the scientists will germinate the seeds and grow the plants in a miniature greenhouse on the landing vehicle.

Despite working with alien soil they know little about, the biologists are optimistic about the experiment.

"I'm confident we can grow plants if we know the pH levels and the oxidizing agents in the Martian soil," Schuerger said. "We'll test the soil before planting, and then we can raise or lower pH, flush excess salts and add nutrients as needed."

As for long-term plans, Ferl and Schuerger have worked together on a concept called "terra-forming" or "ecosynthesis," which would use plants to reduce the carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere and produce oxygen for life processes. Although the plants are genetically engineered to detect -- and then adapt to -- certain environmental stressors, terra-forming presents additional obstacles.

Schuerger said that on Mars, daily temperatures range from a high of 45 degrees Fahrenheit at noon to a low of minus 170 degrees at night. Also, the planet's moisture content is 0.3 percent, which is extremely low.

But Ferl, Schuerger and the rest of the team are taking all bettors.

"I have no doubt that we can get plants to survive on Mars," Ferl said. "When we do, we will have shown that Earth-evolved life is capable of thriving in distant worlds, and we will have set the stage for human colonization."

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2001

Answers

Sounds interesting. Phosphoresence is a form of electron emmission. They may learn quite abit about the "Red Giant".

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2001

If you wake up in the middle of night (or stay awake until then) you can listen to Art Bell on the radio. Then you'll understand that there's no such thing as "science fiction!" LOL.

Actually, there is some weird quasi-credible stuff coming out about Mars these days. But I'm too weary to post it. But maybe it's green and glowing. ;-)

Thanks for the info, seriously. I like to hear about space stuff.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2001

Based on the composition of the martian atmosphere it is possible that life of some kind did exist there a long time ago. A few years ago I spent an afternoon with James Lovelock, who wrote the "Gaia" and "Ages of Gaia" books. He was a wonderful, incredibly insightful free- thinking person, and convinced me of life on mars. He worked with NASA on early planetary exploration before quitting to develop the Gaia hypothesis (basically that the earth can be regarded as a self- sustaining "organism"). One of the consequences of Gaia is a characteristic signature in the composition of the atmosphere (in our case the presence of oxygen and nitrogen). Without the presence of life, there would be a chemical equilibrium (ammonia, methane, CO2). The martian atmosphere is just slightly out of equilibrium, indicating that life may have modified it a long time ago. It's only slightly different because over millions of years the chemical equilibrium has been almost re-established.

On a different note I read a few weeks ago in the Financial Times (don't ask!) that NASA is seriously struggling in exploration programs because the shuttle program is so costly, and they have become hooked on it in a catch 22 situation. They abandoned the single stage to orbit (SSTO) development program that was supposed to eventually take over from the shuttle. They couldn't afford both, and are commited to the international space station. My guess is that planetary exporation will stay at the talking stage for a very long time, since the shuttle is not the vehicle of choice.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2001

I'm a "former life on Mars" believer, too. I do not have a lab to do any independent verification (!) but there have been reputable sources with apparently credible explanations for how it probably existed.

I have also heard that since JPL is more interested in unmanned, robotic exploration, we probably won't be seeing a manned Mars trip for some time.

Of course, maybe if I can get say, $20 million, I could have something to say about getting a ride there....

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2001