One might pretend that the chunk missing from the rock on one side looks like the Gulf of Carpentaria, but there is no corresponding Great Australian Bight on the other side.

This article only provides evidence of possibly three things: 1) to many in the media and general public are geographically challenged or 2) the Mars Rover Mission is desperate to find a handle on maintaining public interest and relevance or 3) Slahdot has once again found yet another way for slashdoters to waste their time by entertaining themselves with nonsense and to make itself even less relevant as a site informative with regard to technology and science. A more informative piece would have involved a discussion with some experts on Martian geology suggesting what the shape of Martian rocks tells us about the red planet that we don't already know.

You confuse scientific evidence with opinion. There is NO scientific evidence that suggests that it is anything other than human activity resulting from the burning of fossil fuels that is the cause of the observed warming. If that were not so, then those who deny its getting warmer wouldn't be so reluctant to explain how it is that, if the world isn't getting any warmer, all of the world's glaciers and icesheets are melting faster than at any time in recorded geological history.

There are lots of very good scientific reasons to be concerned about GMO's creating artificial environments that can rapidly alter the rest of the natural world. There is abundant evidence for concern with many GMO crops already.

Safe for who? Those who benefit from company profits or those whose survival depends on an environment that has up until now sustained humanity because we haven't generated enough artificial selection to as yet noticeable muck it up?

What we need is a census for redistricting purposes every 5 years, not every 10. The modern world is simply moving too fast for a 10 year rule to keep us competitive with other nations. This would make gerrymandering less advantageous and hence less of a problem. This also makes sense from an economic perspective as well, since the population is so much larger now and its impacts on ecosystems that sustain it larger and of more consequence now.

Better yet, lets start insisting that all politicians pass scientific literacy tests, if for no other reason than amusement.

If teachers are going to be held accountable, why not politicians?

Much of "Obama's" FDA is filled with people staffed during the Bush I, Clinton and Bush II years. Scientific illiteracy knows no political boundaries. Its a symptom of the breadth of scientific illiteracy in our entire population. We should also keep in mind that scientific illiteracy is also to be found even among the scientifically literate when dealing with other disciplines of science.

You have hit the nail on the head! We play wack-a-mole with ourselves.

As of March 26, 2014, it is estimated to number 7.154 billion by the United States Census Bureau (USCB). As of April 4, 2014, the United States has a total population of 317.8 million (USCB). Thus, the population of the US is about 4.4% of the planet's human population, not 33.3%. This is yet another example of Americans thinking of themselves as more important than they really are. By population alone the rest of the world has been outpacing the US for some time. At current growth rates the Chinese economy (5 year average GDP at 10.62%) will surpass that of the US (5 year average growth rate 0.207%) in size in about 10 years, assuming they don't choke themselves to death producing products largely for US consumption.

Who erroneously seems to think that temperatures only occur in the U.S. or North America. Globally the mean temperature continues to rise.

If you want want to directly observe evolution such as trout and pitbulls, all you need to do is live longer.

Actually, its easy to observe evolution in action by looking at bacteria and other organisms with rapid generation times, such a fruit flies. That evolution can be observed in fruit flies has been repeatedly demonstrated for the past 130 years. It is now so completely understood that this is possible that whether it can be demonstrated or not is no longer scientifically relevant, having been answered in the affirmative. Outstanding questions pertain to the consequences of specific examples of the evolution observed.

Exactly. The forefront of modern morphology currently rests in establishing the quantitative functional links between particular combinations of genes, quantifiable environmental factors characterizing the direction and magnitude of selection, and the morphology defined in the context of analytic geometry and geometric algebra. As we learn more about how genes generate morphology and how both are influenced by selection, expect many more quantitative predictions.

Your comment demonstrates a lack of understanding of the scientific method. Science deals with experimental outcomes that establish truth about the natural world. Either the ideas tested confirm a hypothesis or they reject it. "Dialogue" is irrelevant. A well designed scientific experiment leaves no room for ambiguity. Science is not sophism. Don't confuse the two.

"Congress isn't "all idiots"...for every bullshit anti-science law Congress passes there are Democrats/Progressives who vote against it"

True, but not enough of them. Therein lies the crux of the problem. Science and consequently humanity desperately needs more democrats and less republicans in office. Just like difference between chimps and humans in DNA, that 1% difference results in a very big difference in consequences.

I guess you haven't heard about the Martian rovers. We have landed on Mars.