Chang, Kenneth. "Hitting Pay Dirt on Mars." The New York Times. The New York Times, 30 Sept. 2013. Web. 28 Oct. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/01/science/space/hitting-pay-dirt-on-mars.html?_r=0>.
In the
Article Hitting Pay Dirt on Mars by
Kenneth Chang, The author talks about the Mars rover, Curiosity, and one of its
most recent discoveries. It has found an
alkaline rock, which is a very rare form of rock to find on earth, and has
never been seen before on Mars. Though
it looks like all the others, under closer examination it is very
different. This rock, being an alkaline
rock can only be created by the melting of rocks deep in the mantle with the
presence of water. This is very
important, because until now there was no proof of water on Mars. During further testing of a dust pile, the rover
found that when heated, water vapor was released. This provides the possibility of some form of
carbon-based life form to be able to exist on Mars. Knowing that the dust on Mars contains water
could be important for astronauts in the future. One other interesting thing found by Curiosity
is the presence of perchlorates. These are
chemicals that are known to cause thyroid problems, and would be very bad for
astronauts to be around.
This
pertains to humanity because it is a big step in astronomy, and could be important
for future trips to Mars, or if needed colonization on Mars in the very distant
future. Without water, being on mars for
extended periods of time would be very difficult, and may not ever happen.
I
thought that the author did a very good job of describing everything, and did a
good job of including quotes from specific people and explaining who they were
and what they researched. He also does a
good job of providing specific details about the rocks, and rovers. One thing I felt that he did poorly is that he
talked about the perchlorates in very
little detail and it just didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the article. Otherwise the author did a very good
job.
I really like the article that Jason chose, and found it to be very interesting. I really liked how he explained what was so special about this discovery and why it was so important. Another thing that I liked that Jason did very well was to connect this discovery to our lives, showing how this affects our science today. He explained how although there is evidence of water, there are chemicals present there that are known to cause thyroid problems (perchlorates), showing how this would affect astronauts if they did go. Finally, I liked how Jason left a detailed evaluation about the article he read and how informative or not it was. I liked how he credited the author with a lot of things, but also said it could have been improve by going in deeper to some of the topics, and better explaining them, like the perchlorates.
ReplyDeleteAs good as this review was, I thought that Jason could have better clarified some of the topics. Although Jason said that the author didn’t include a lot of information about the perchlorates, it would be helpful to at least know what they are, and how that is important. I also thought that he could have better described the discovery of the rocks. One thing he said is that, “under closer examination it is very different.” But I think it is important to know how. He also said that when the dust pile was heated water vapor and that that showed that there was a possibility of a carbon-based life on mars. I would have liked to know how they knew that there is a possibility of a carbon-based life.
I found this article to be very informative and I learned many things from it. I learned that not only is water present in the mantle which was found out when an alkaline rock was found, but water is also present in the dust, because when hated water vapor was created. Overall, I think that it was a good article that was chosen, and a good review.
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ReplyDeleteJason's choice of article could not have been better, this was a current article describing an important advance in the field of astronomy. Jason wrote this review well, it flowed and was easy to read and understand. Jason also summarized his article which helped me to understand what the author was trying to say
ReplyDeleteAlthough the review was written well, Jason could improve on a couple things. Jason could have elaborated a bit on his description on perchlorates. Jason also could have added some more detail to the dust pile releasing water vapor when heated, this section of the review was a bit vague.
I thought this was a very interesting article and the topic of the possibility of life on mars is very important in the astronomy field.
I think Jason did a really good job at explaining his article and stressing the crucial points. One thing I liked was how he only discussed the important information, and didn’t make it boring at all. Another thing he did well was how he told the title and author in the first paragraph. Another thing done well in this was the presentation and how it was organized to the criteria.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that Jason could have done better would have been if he included a link to the artcle as a reference for the reader, or if they were interested in the topic. I also thought he could have gone into a little more detail about the perchlorates, because he left that as sort of a vague topic, and could have at least explained it a little.
One thing that struck me in this was how it said that this discovery could prove life habitable on mars.
I really enjoyed that Jason gave a good amount of background information on alkali rocks and how they were a rare find on Earth and were not known to exist on Mars. Jason also explained why this amazing discovery was so important. I also liked how the review was very easy to read and it flowed really nicely.
ReplyDeleteHowever, he could have helped us understand what perchlorates were because I had to look up what it meant to make sense of the article. He also could have explained the differences in the other rocks found on Mars compared to the alkali rock.
I really liked this review and it was very well written and interesting and I cannot wait to read another of Jason’s reviews.
I really like the way Jason did his project very well. The article that Jason picked was very well described and had so much interesting details. There are many things that were done very well. One of the things we did very well was how he got the important info without going into too much details and making it very long and irrelevant. Another thing he did very well was he explained the Mars rover and important details about the project. I also liked how it was very well organized.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that Jason could have done better was how he was sometimes vague in some sentences I’m not saying it wasn’t bad but it need some more details in some occasions. Also something he could have explained very well was about the perchlorates.
I really enjoyed this article and the way he explained it made it even better. It was also very good in general. I really like reading Jason’s article and learning the world from his point of view.
I really liked the article that Jason chose to review. The review was well written and described in detail the exploration of the new things on Mars. I thought that Jason explained the importance of these discoveries really well. I also liked how he connected it to the importance to humanity today, and how it is a giant leap for astronomy today.
ReplyDeleteI think that Jason could have included how long the mission had lasted and how long it took to process this information. Also, I think that explaining what 'perchlorates' are and why they are important would help make the review better.
Finally, I liked Jason's article a lot. I thought it was really interesting to learn about new discoveries on different planets and finding out information as important as this was really exciting.
Jason did I very good job writing this review on his article. He did a very good job describing what curiosity found on Mars and why it was important. It found an alkaline rock can be created with the presence of water. Jason did a great job explaining how this article relates to human life. This was a big step in astronomy for us and it also shows that life could be possible on Mars. Another thing Jason did very well was evaluating the article himself. He said he enjoyed how the author wrote it and how he enjoyed that the author added quotes to show evidence.
ReplyDeleteAs well as Jason did he could have done a few things better. Jason could explain a little more why this discovery affects us on earth not just affected astronomy. For example could life on another planet affect life on Earth? I would have liked to learn more on that topic. Another thing Jason could improved on was maybe give a little background on discovery on Mars in the past so the reader understands why this is even more important than we thought. However that is just my personal opinion.
Overall I liked Jason's review a lot. He really understood what he was talking about and he made it so the reader wanted to keep reading and find out what happens. I really thought it was important to know that life on Mars could be even more possible than we thought it could. This could lead to a change in our world and many others I think.
I liked Jasons review for many reasons. It was very interesting and informative and his review was very well written and it made you wanting to keep reading about it. I also liked Jason's review because it informs us about what is going on in other planets and it's something new that we can learn. I also really like how he tells us that it's a big step in astronomy because it's a good thing to know that we are making progress.
ReplyDeleteJason's article was really good but i wish he had told us a little more about how it can affect humanity. I also wish that Jason could have told us more about this finding because what he gave us was interesting and i wanted to know more.
From this review i have learnt something new and it was very interesting and i'm glad i chose this article, because otherwise i wouldn't have known about it.