Science's Breakthrough of the Year: Salty, acidic soup could havesupported life on Mars (Forwarded)

American Association for the Advancement of Science
Washington, D.C.

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16-Dec-2004

Science's Breakthrough of the Year: Salty, acidic soup could have supported life
on Mars

Science honors the top ten research advances of 2004

Evidence for the prolonged presence of potentially-life-supporting, salty,
acidic water on the surface of Mars claims top honors as the Breakthrough of the
Year, named by Science and its publisher, AAAS, the nonprofit science society.

The findings from 2004 suggest that Mars was once a wet, warm place that could
have been capable of cradling life billions of years ago, when life on Earth was
getting its start.

This milestone plus nine other research advances make up Science's list of the
top ten scientific developments in 2004, chosen for their profound implications
for society and the advancement of science. The Top Ten list appears in the 17
December 2004 issue of the journal Science.

With the help of remote-sensing spacecraft, NASA's two hardy little robotic
explorers performed the first true geologic field explorations on another planet.

The Opportunity rover discovered exposed bedrock at Eagle crater on Meridiani
Planum that suggests a cyclical wet-and-dry history. The bedrock provides
long-sought evidence for a prolonged wet and warm period on Mars.

On the other side of the Red Planet, the rover Spirit found evidence of shallow
groundwater that may have transformed hundreds of meters of volcanic ash into
soft, iron-rich rock.

Any martian life would have confronted a harsh environment dominated by salty,
acidic waters that regularly dried up, but creatures capable of surviving or
even thriving under such extreme conditions live here on Earth.

An international team of scientists outfitted the two identical Rovers with
"eyes" that see in color, a magnifying glass, a grinding wheel for exposing
fresh rock, an elemental analyzer, and two mineral-identifying instruments.

The Mars rovers are not working alone. The Thermal Emission Spectrometer on
board NASA's Mars Global Surveyor provided, among other information, mineral
data that helped the scientists choose Meridiani Planum as Opportunity's landing
spot. New results from the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter point to
water-weathered rocks elsewhere on Mars.

The next generation of robotic Mars explorers may attempt to bring back rock,
dirt or dust samples, including hematite "blueberries" capable of preserving
minute details of organisms that may have lived on Mars.

Science also salutes nine other scientific achievements of 2004. Except for the
first runner up, the others are in no particular order.

The Littlest Humans: The startling discovery of a species of small human
relatives in a cave on the Indonesian island of Flores suggests that modern
humans and these small "hominids" shared the Earth just 18,000 years ago. The
new species, Homo floresiensis, may have evolved from an earlier population of
Homo erectus that was isolated on the island and then shrank to make better use
of scarce resources. Or, might these fossils simply be the remains of modern
humans with small heads due to a condition called "microcephaly"? The debate is
sure to continue into 2005.

Human Cloning: South Korean researchers made headlines worldwide this year when
they announced that they had cloned a human embryo, the first evidence that this
technique could work with human cells. The researchers' intention was to derive
embryonic stem cell lines that could help researchers understand complex
diseases or eventually produce genetically matched replacement cells for patients.

Banner Year for Condensates: With an understanding of how to chill the two basic
types of atoms into a single quantum state or "condensate" under their belts,
researchers got down to probing these strange forms of matter in 2004. They
learned how condensates' behavior changes as atoms grow further apart, and they
created a solid condensate, complementing earlier successes with gas and liquid
versions.

Hidden Genome Treasures: The stretches of "junk DNA" that lie within genomes
proved this year to be far more important than previously thought. This DNA,
found between genes and between a gene's protein-coding regions, turns out to be
essential for helping genes turn on at the right time and in the right place.

Pulsar Pair: Astrophysicists discovered the first known pair of pulsars,
spinning neutron stars that shoot out jets of radiation. Further studies of
these whirling objects may provide the most stringent examination yet of
Einstein's general theory of relativity.

Plant and Animal Diversity Declines: Disturbing news about the decline of
species diversity rolled in from large studies this year that surveyed
amphibians, butterflies, plants and birds. Not only is species richness
decreasing, additional evidence suggests that climate change is altering the
natural history of many different areas.

Water, Not Just on Mars: While evidence of an ancient, wet Mars grabbed the
spotlight in 2004, advances in our understanding of water itself flowed freely
as well. If they hold up, new results on the structure and chemical behavior of
water could reshape fields from chemistry to atmospheric sciences.

Medicines for the World's Poor: "Public-private partnerships" emerged as a
formidable force in 2004, affecting the way medicines are developed and
delivered to developing countries. Joint ventures by foundations, rich
countries, academics, pharmaceutical companies and other groups were behind
several prominent initiatives this year, including a malaria vaccine trial and
efforts to provide anti-HIV drugs.

Genes in a Drop of Water: In 2004, researchers hit on a new way to identify life
forms too small and remote to see with the naked eye. They collected water from
environments as different as the Sargasso Sea and the depths of an abandoned
mine and sequenced the genes floating in it. This work has turned up new genes
and genomes alike.

Science's Breakdown of the Year: Relationships between scientists and the
government frayed on two continents this year as U.S. researchers accused the
Bush administration of putting ideology before science and French and Italian
researchers protested against budget cuts and more.

Areas to watch in 2005: This year, Science's predictions for hot fields in the
upcoming year include obesity drugs, the international Haplotype Map, which
should offer insights into genetic variation and human disease, and
Cassini-Huygen's investigation of Saturn's moon, Titan.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world's
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