with a grain of salt (Score 1)

One of my friends works for JPL and specializes in astrobiology. He says: "Water on Mars? I'm sure you've all heard about it by now. It's all over the news and JPL is a buzz with excitement. Next week's Science (although you can read it today at www.sciencemag.org) will publish an article that highlights evidence for recent groundwater seepage on Mars. I just wanted to outline some of the facts and give my opinion on the situation before you hear too many rumors that are already getting blown out of [roportion. Using the Mars Global Surveyor's (MGS) Mars Orbital Camera (MOC) Malin et. al. has analyzed images of what appear to be features on Mars that have been caused by fluidized mass transport. This may mean water but not necessarily so (a C02 slurry has long been proposed). This fluid originated underground and through processes similar to the catastrophic outflow channels, reached the surface. The main issue here is not geology but the geochronology. These features are probably caused by water. They are alluvial fans, gullies and small tributaries very similar to features on Earth and dissimilar to volcanic or non-fluidized mass wasting. However, temporal constraints are poor. The features are not heavily cratered or crosscut which implies a young age. But young could mean hundreds of thousands to a billion years or so. Don't rush out to believe stories about Mars having gushing spring fountains, today. While this is an important discovery, it is not definitive for the story of past or present water on (or underneath) Mars. Many other MGS discoveries are equally or more so profound. But the question is very much still out. Water on Mars? Maybe, maybe not, maybe not in a long while."