TNRTB Archive - Retained for reference information
Planetary scientists have uncovered evidence that places a big damper on the “follow the water” enthusiasm that currently drives the search for extraterrestrial life. In a meteorite that probably came from the asteroid Vesta they discovered a crack-seal quartz veinlet. Such veinlets are difficult to form without liquid water solutions. However, since the meteorite shows no indication of internal water, the planetary scientists deduced that the water came from a comet impact (comets are 80 percent frozen water). Since comet impacts are ubiquitous throughout the solar system, evidence of water chemistry on Mars or other solar system bodies really adds nothing to the probability of finding life in those locations. Life requires hundreds of fine-tuned characteristics in addition to water and the level of fine-tuning is so extreme as to demand a supernatural Creator.
Allan H. Treiman, Antonio Lanzirotti, and Dimitrios Xirouchakis, “Ancient Water on Asteroid 4 Vesta: Evidence from a Quartz Veinlet in the Serra de Magé Eucrite Meteorite,” Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 219 (2004), pp. 189-199.
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=2004E%26PSL.219..189T&db_key=AST&high=3f059fb40812897
RTB articles: Hugh Ross, “Follow the Water …To Life?” Connections Linking Science and Faith, volume 6, number 1, first quarter (2004), p. 4; Hugh Ross, “Life on Mars,” Connections Linking Science and Faith, volume 6, number 1, first quarter (2004), p. 5.
