Current Events 10 Sean Curran
Chang, Kenneth. "‘A Great Moment’: Rover Finds Methane, a Clue That Mars May Harbor Life." The New York Times. The New York Times, 16 Dec. 2014. Web. 19 Dec. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/17/science/a-new-clue-in-the-search-for-life-on-mars.html?ref=science>.
I read the article ‘A Great Moment’: Rover Finds Methane a Clue That Mars May Harbor Life by Kenneth Chang. This article talked about how life on Mars is still a possibility that life exists or has existed on Mars due to the discovery of methane on the planet by the Mars rover Curiosity. As it states in the article,” A year after reporting that that NASA’s Curiosity rover has found no evidence of methane gas on Mars, all but dashing hopes that organisms might be living there now, scientists reversed themselves in Tuesday.” Finding methane on Mars is important because methane can’t last long on Earth, so any methane found must have been created recently. Methane has been found on Mars before, but the data retrieved was never conclusive, because the instruments used found there data within their margin of error, until now.
The concepts proposed by this article will greatly affect humanity in the future. As of now, Earth is the only known planet that has or as the possibility of sustaining life. However, the discovery of methane on Mars open up the possibility that life could be sustained on Mars, or even that their might be some organisms living on Mars right now. This discovery also has a big impact because it furthers the cause that human life could possibly be supported on Mars, do to the facts that ases may be being made their naturally.
There were both strengths and weaknesses in this article. One strength is how the author incorporated quotes into his article from NASA scientists, giving his article legitimacy. Another strength in this article was how the author was able to use more sophisticated language, yet still get his points across. One weakness in this article was how had almost no opinion but just facts, making the article a little boring. To improve this, the author could just provide his opinion on some of the concepts in the article.
This article review by Sean Curran did a good job of summarizing the article from The New York Times. He pointed out that the author gains legitimacy in his claims by backing them up with quotes from NASA scientists (like John P. Grotzinger). Sean also quoted the article itself to clarify the importance of methane being on Mars.
ReplyDeleteSome of the wording in this review, for example, “As it states in the article,” is a little confusing to read, so Sean should express these phrases differently. Also, he should put quotes around the title of the article he is reviewing.
Lastly, I was surprised to learn that the finding of methane on Mars could support past, or even current, life there!
After reading Sean’s review on the discovery of methane on Mars I felt certain aspects contributed greatly to his summary. First he used intriguing and different words that you wouldn't expect to read or hear on a daily basis such as “reversed” or “conclusive”. I also felt that Sean’s use of quotes greatly added to his summary. Finally I like that he summed up the article in one sentence then delved into greater detail.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I was confused by was when sean said “... do to the facts that ases may be being made there naturally.”. This sentence has incorrect grammar and leaves the reader wondering if ases actually exists, if so what is it, or what is it actually spelled correctly. Finally when Sean was doing his Critique he spoke about how quotes were a strength of the article but other than a single quote in his summary the rest was quote less which i feel detracts from the entire review.
In the end after reading the article and review, I was surprised to learn that NASA is only just now discovering that there’s methane on mars which is something I would have thought that they would’ve found on an earlier mission but maybe they weren't looking for it specifically until now.