Invitation For Discussion, Debate, Commentary

IS THERE LIFE ON MARS?

"Fungi on Mars? Evidence of Growth and Behavior from Sequential Images"
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/351252619

"Lichens on Mars vs the Hematite Hoax"
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352330548

Rosanna del Gaudio, Ph.D.
Co-Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Astrobiology
Prof. Aggregate of Molecular Biology
Department of Biology
University of Naples

"Fungi on Mars? Evidence of Growth and Behavior from Sequential Images" with over 400,000 readers at Researchgate, is perhaps the most controversial article published in astrobiology and astronomy since David McKay et al. reported nanofossils and biological activity in Martian Meteorite ALH. Adding fuel to the fire, Dr. R. Gabriel Joseph has also just published "Lichens on Mars vs the Hematite Hoax."

The Journal of Astrobiology (JOA) did not publish these two articles. The Abstracts are reprinted below.

If just some of the findings prove true the implications are profound and paradigm shifting. But how much is true? Some? All? Or is this just another case of "pareidolia?" Turning the argument on its head, the authors of "Fungi on Mars?" claim their opponents are suffering from "pareidolia." Who is correct?

The Editors of JOA have decided to provide a neutral, professional forum in which the scientific community can calmly debate and rationally discuss the pros and cons of these two controversial reports and the overriding question of: Is there life on Mars?

JOA has agreed to publish "Open Peer Critical Commentary (Pro or Con)" and hereby invites the scientific community to publish their research, reviews, and commentaries in JOA.

There are no publication or page charges. All Commentary, Research, and Reviews will be published online, open access, at the journal website and at Researchgate, and will be free to the public and scientific community.

Submission Guidelines

1. Commentary must be scholarly, include references and have a unique Title and three to four sentence (maximum) Abstract.

2. Commentary is subject to a maximum 2000 word limit (not including Reference List, Abstract or Title).

3. A Maximum of two Figures

4. APA Reference Style (e.g. Joseph et al. 2020; Thomas & Smith 2021).

5. No personal insults or ad hominem attacks.

6. No dogmatic statements, e.g. "it has been proved..."

7. Commentary may focus on related topics, e.g. sample return, planetary protection, methane, oyxgen, transfer of life between Earth and Mars, tektites, lapilli, etc.

8. Authors and co-authors are limited to one Commentary.

9. All Commentary will be peer reviewed.

10. JOA is open to all points of view. Our purpose is to advance science.

Submit as a PDF

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Contents (Coming Soon and More...)

--Did the 1976 Mars Viking LR Biology Experiments Detect Life From Earth? Belinda Davis

--Mars, Fossils, Evolution, Extinction Ashraf M. T. Elewa

--Could Fungi Be Living on Mars? Susan Kaminskyj

--Martian Marble-like Spheres Also Resemble Terrestrial Soil Concretions, Eleanora I. Robbins

--The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Life on Mars and in Our Solar System, Somnath Adak and Debashish Sengupta

--Martian Spheroids: Statistical Comparisons With Terrestrial "Moqui Balls" and Podetia of the Lichen Dibaeis Baeomyces, Richard A. Armstrong

--A Morphometric Approach To The Martian Lozenge Microstructures Observed By Curiosity At Pahrump Hills Field Site: Life On Mars? Giorgio Bianciardi, Tommaso Nicolo, Lorenzo Bianciardi

--Algae on Mars: A Summary of the Evidence, K. Latif, J.G. Ray, and Olivier Planchon

--Fungi on Mars: Implications for Highly Evolved Extraterrestrial Civilizations, Rudolph Schild

--Mars, Comets and the Cambrian Explosion, David Duvall et al.

... and many more still under review

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NO PAGE OR PUBLICATION CHARGES: FREE, ONLINE, OPEN ACCESS