Re: NASA Mars mission funding - better spent on paleo?

[David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

> Look at it this way; you are on an aeroplane. The pilot and co-pilot both
> collapse into unconsciousness for some unknown reason. One of the flight 
> crew
> asks "is there a doctor onboard, or anyone who knows how to fly a plane?"

I'm a _SCIENTIST!_ If anybody can land this machine, _THAT'S ME!_

(Sorry. Inside joke. And... he does manage to land the plane very nicely --  
on its roof.)

> Palaeontology seems to be one of those 'curiosity' desciplines (like
> archaeology, astronomy or history), which can all discover fascinating 
> things
> about the past, but are all some-what lacking in practical benefits to 
> society.
> We should feel lucky we get any funding at all.

This is almost the case, but not quite:

- Oil geology -- biostratigraphy, in other words.
- Palaeoclimatology. What happens when we get 500 ppm of CO2 in the air, and 
what happens when it gets 1 °C or 5 °C warmer than it is now? Well, what 
happened last time?