<story><title>Water seems to flow freely on Mars</title><url>http://www.nature.com/news/water-seems-to-flow-freely-on-mars-1.14343?</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jboggan</author><text>Is anyone else tired of hearing about the dangers of interplanetary contamination, particularly from the Earth to Mars?  I want to see the whole place terraformed and I can&amp;#x27;t imagine that we&amp;#x27;d be so successful in our lifetimes that we&amp;#x27;d wipe out whatever scientifically interesting traces of extant Martian flora there are.  Whether or not there was life on Mars is a fascinating question, but I think the more important one is when will we expand life on Mars?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>simias</author><text>Before we terraform the planet don&amp;#x27;t you think it might be interesting to learn about martian history before it cannot be recovered?&lt;p&gt;If you dig the foundation of a parking lot and you find the vestiges of an ancient civilisation don&amp;#x27;t you take the time to study what you&amp;#x27;ve found before your send the steamrollers in?</text></comment>
<story><title>Water seems to flow freely on Mars</title><url>http://www.nature.com/news/water-seems-to-flow-freely-on-mars-1.14343?</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jboggan</author><text>Is anyone else tired of hearing about the dangers of interplanetary contamination, particularly from the Earth to Mars?  I want to see the whole place terraformed and I can&amp;#x27;t imagine that we&amp;#x27;d be so successful in our lifetimes that we&amp;#x27;d wipe out whatever scientifically interesting traces of extant Martian flora there are.  Whether or not there was life on Mars is a fascinating question, but I think the more important one is when will we expand life on Mars?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>mongol</author><text>Why the hurry? Let&amp;#x27;s explore it for 100 years before terraforming it. I am not tired of it all, it is much more valuable to figure out what is there first before changing it.&lt;p&gt;EDIT. Terraforming it in a hurry feels like building a shopping mall on top of the remains of an ancient civilization before it has been properly researched</text></comment>