'The authors ignore other data that easily disprove their claims for example, many features claimed to be biological are known to typical martian rocks, sand, dust, and ice that change in appearance due to weather, lighting, or rover interactions. They examined images of nine 'spherical specimens' which they say are similar to fungal puffballs on Earth with 12 specimens emerging from under the soil three days later.īut scientists at NASA have poured cold water on their claims.Īndrew Good, a spokesman for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told leadstories: 'Needless to say, no, this is not evidence of fungi on Mars. The trio claim that these 'mushrooms' seem to shrink, appear and disappear over a period of days, weeks and months. In one example, the team says there is evidence of fungi resembling Puffballs on Earth 're-sprouting' in tracks left behind by the NASA Curiosity rover. Their study, which has been met with skepticism from the scientific community, argues that what NASA called rocks are actually fungus-like specimens growing in the Martian landscape. The group studied images snapped by NASA's Curiosity rover on the Red Planet and the orbiting HiRISE craft. Rhawn Gabriel Joseph made the claim along with microbiologist Dr Xinli Wei from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and astrophysicist Dr Rudolph Schild from Harvard-Smithsonian. That was based on our study of hematite-rich regions of southern Utah, where hematite balls are found in national parks and have long been a geological oddity that shows up in many rock shops.A scientist dubbed the 'Space Tiger King' has claimed that strange 'puffball-like' blobs on Mars are actually mushrooms, despite NASA tests showing that they are merely rocks.ĭr. “Before Opportunity landed, we thought there might be hematite concretions on Mars. “We came up with the ‘recipe’ for blueberries,” said Marjorie Chan, chair and professor of geology and geophysics at the University of Utah, at the time. For example, researchers at the University of Utah predicted the blueberries would be found on Mars because that same process exists on Earth. Many of the factors described in the preprint study have also been known to exist on Earth as features that occur from geochemical changes and by erosion from the wind. These blueberries are one of the best-known discoveries of the Opportunity mission and have been previously identified as Martian rocks, sand, dust, and ice - potential evidence for a once “ watery ancient environment” on Mars, but not for a biologically active one today. Some were taken over several missions in the early 2000s and showed mineral spherules nicknamed “blueberries” for their size and shape. The researchers claimed that many of these so-called “puffballs” also had “stalks." Described as “chalky-white colored spherical shaped specimens upon the surface,” the researchers also claimed that these “puffballs” were previously misidentified as hematite. The original nine could reportedly be seen closer together with expanding diameters, which suggested that they may have been growing and multiplying. These nine were photographed at a location known as Sol 1145 that the scientists compared to an additional 12 specimens they claimed had “emerged from beneath the soil” at another location known as Sol 1148. The team went on to describe their analysis of nine “spherical specimens” that they claimed were similar to fungal puffballs on Earth. As Snopes has previously explained, research that has not been peer-reviewed has typically not been rigorously vetted by other researchers who can highlight discrepancies, limitations, and other errors in observations required before publishing the study in a reputable journal. (The entire preprint study can be downloaded here.)Īt the time of this writing, the study was published in preprint, which means that it was in its early stage of production and had not yet been peer-reviewed and critiqued by other scientists. In their 69-page paper, the scientists argued that the photographs provided evidence that mushrooms had appeared and disappeared over a period of several days, weeks, and months, some of which had even sprouted in tracks left behind by the rover. In the non-peer-reviewed study titled, “ Fungi on Mars? Evidence of Growth and Behavior From Sequential Images,” credentialed researchers Rhawn Gabriel Joseph, as well as Xinli Wei from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and astrophysicist Rudolph Schild from Harvard-Smithsonian, studied images taken by NASA’s Curiosity rover and the orbiting HiRISE craft. Let's look at what was actually published and, importantly, the format in which it was published.
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