Opinion: Martian fireworks

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

NASA’s pretty amazed these days because it’s found perchlorate on Mars.

Now, perchlorate has its uses, in things like fireworks and air bags and rocket fuel. But when it shows up in our water and cow’s milk, as it does, it’s bad stuff. Perchlorate interferes with the thyroid gland’s iodine uptake. In other words, it’s not something we’d be thrilled to find around our drinking supplies.

It shows you that, even where perchlorate is concerned, it’s all about location, location, location. NASA scientists are excited about this finding; they think perchlorate could even be an indicator of life on Mars. At least, life of the microbial sort, not the kind we think about getting together with at intergalactic mixers. Not the sort of life with whom we’d want to go out drinking. And their fireworks are probably very tiny.