Mud Cracks?

The Opportunity Mars Exploration Rover has returned an image of what look suspiciously like mud cracks on the planet's surface.

If the features are mud cracks, it's unknown how old they are. They could be ancient features scoured clean by Mars' winds, or they could be relatively recent -- perhaps even contemporary.

Transient Lunar Phenomena

Moonlit mysteries

"So is the moon, supposedly a lifeless chunk of basaltic rock, undergoing periodic volcanic activity? Most astronomers don't think so. In 1963 Zdenek Kopal observed that a significant TLP event occurred during a major solar flare-up. He suggested particles from these vast electromagnetic emissions caused moon rocks to glow, particularly when the moon is passing through the Earth's magnetosphere."

Images of what appear to be specular reflections may be due to the presence of glass, as suggested by Richard Hoagland. Assuming the planetary SETI inquiry is theoretically valid, it's certainly not unreasonable to suppose that certain transient lunar phenomena are due to archaeological ruins, especially when they persist in one location.

Extrasolar Bioastronomy and SETI

I hate to cross-post, but I just wrote a quick editorial on my other blog, Posthuman Blues, that probably belonged here . . .

Drilling Needed to Test for Mars Life

First Canadian astronaut convinced of life on Mars; mining needed for proof

"Canada's first astronaut in space says he's convinced there was once life on Mars and Canadians are uniquely placed to figure out if there still is."