|UCB Physics in the News| |Colloquia & Seminars| |Honors &
Awards| |Physics in the News| |Title:||Scientists Read Messages
From Mars In Plumes Of Methane| Plumes of methane, a gas
typically produced on Earth by cow digestion and rice paddies,
were reported on Mars by scientists yesterday, again raising the
tantalizing possibility that life could dwell beneath the
planet\'s inhospitable surface. \'Roving Mars\' film opens at
the Museum of Science. G26 On Earth, most methane is a byproduct
of life, whether it is belched out by livestock or excreted by
hardy microbes deep within thick sheets of ice. But methane can
also be produced by geological processes, and that explanation,
while less intriguing, could also account for the methane found
on Mars. "We don\'t know what\'s producing it on Mars, quite
frankly," said Michael Mumma, director of NASA\'s Goddard Center
for Astrobiology, who led the work. "If it\'s produced
biologically, that\'s been one of the quests since Mars was
first explored," he said, referring