| Abstract: | A wave of chatter about water and therefore possible life on Mars swept a paper at Science into headline news a week before its scheduled publication. The paper, on page 2330 of this issue, features high-resolution pictures of muddy-looking gullies on the sides of martian craters, suggesting the prospect of liquid water on, or at least near, the surface of the planet. But a number of skeptical planetary scientists are already coming up with alternative explanations for the rivulet-ridden piles of debris that exclude stores of liquid water and therefore readily accessible life. |
