[Update 11/29/19: Ohio University has withdrawn this article.]
Analysis of images from Mars rovers shows insect- and reptile-like fossils, creatures according to Ohio University entomologist.
As scientists scramble to determine whether there is life on Mars, Ohio University Professor Emeritus William Romoser’s research shows that we already have the evidence, courtesy of photographs from various Mars rovers.
“There has been and still is life on Mars.” — Dr. William Romoser, Ohio University Professor Emeritus
Dr. Romoser, who specializes in arbovirology and general/medical entomology, has spent several years studying photographs from the red planet that are available on the Internet. He found numerous examples of insect-like forms, structured similarly to bees, as well as reptile-like forms, both as fossils and living creatures. He presented his findings Tuesday, November 19, 2019, at the national meeting of the Entomological Society of America in St. Louis, Missouri.
“There has been and still is life on Mars,” Romoser said, noting that the images appear to show both fossilized and living creatures. “There is apparent diversity among the Martian insect-like fauna which display many features similar to Terran insects that are interpreted as advanced groups – for example, the presence of wings, wing flexion, agile gliding/flight, and variously structured leg elements.”
Romoser said that while the Martian rovers, particularly the Curiosity Rover, have been looking for indicators of organic activity, there are a number of photos which clearly depict the insect- and reptile-like forms. Numerous photos show images where arthropod body segments, along with legs, antennae, and wings, can be picked out from the surrounding area, and one even appears to show one of the insects in a steep dive before pulling up just before hitting the ground.
“Three body regions, a single pair of antennae, and six legs are traditionally sufficient to establish identification as ‘insect’ on Earth. These characteristics should likewise be valid to identify an organism on Mars as insect-like.” — Dr. William Romoser
Individual images were carefully studied while varying photographic parameters such as brightness, contrast, saturation, inversion, and so on. No content was added, or removed. Criteria used in Romoser’s research included: Dramatic departure from the surroundings, clarity of form, body symmetry, segmentation of body parts, repeating form, skeletal remains, and observation of forms in close proximity to one another. Particular postures, evidence of motion, flight, apparent interaction as suggested by relative positions, and shiny eyes were taken to be consistent with the presence of living forms.
“Once a clear image of a given form was identified and described, it was useful in facilitating recognition of other less clear, but nonetheless valid, images of the same basic form,” Romoser said. “An exoskeleton and jointed appendages are sufficient to establish identification as an arthropod. Three body regions, a single pair of antennae, and six legs are traditionally sufficient to establish identification as an ‘insect’ on Earth. These characteristics should likewise be valid to identify an organism on Mars as insect-like. On these bases, arthropodan, insect-like forms can be seen in the Mars rover photos.”
Distinct flight behavior was evident in many images, Romoser said. These creatures loosely resemble bumble bees or carpenter bees on Earth. Other images show these “bees” appearing to shelter or nest in caves. And others show a fossilized creature that resembles a snake.
Romoser, who was an entomology professor at Ohio University for 45 years and co-founded its Tropical Disease Institute, also spent nearly 20 years as a visiting vector-borne disease researcher at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. Between 1973 and 1998, Romoser authored and co-authored four editions of the widely-used textbook, “The Science of Entomology.”
Romoser noted that interpretations of insect- and reptile-like creatures he described may change in the future as knowledge of life on Mars evolves, but that the sheer volume of evidence is compelling.
“The presence of higher metazoan organisms on Mars implies the presence of nutrient/energy sources and processes, food chains and webs, and water as elements functioning in a viable, if extreme, ecological setting sufficient to sustain life,” he said. “I have observed instances suggestive of standing water or small water courses with evident meander and with the expected blurring of small submerged rocks, larger emergent rocks at the atmosphere/water interface, a moist bank area, and a drier area beyond the moist area. Water on Mars has been reported a number of times, including surface water detected by instrumentation on Viking, Pathfinder, Phoenix, and Curiosity.
“The evidence of life on Mars presented here provides a strong basis for many additional important biological as well as social and political questions,” he added. It also represents a solid justification for further study.
[Update 11/29/19: Ohio University has withdrawn this article.]
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106 Comments
As a SciTechDaily.com editor, I’m not yet convinced by these photographs. It seems more likely it is a case of Pareidolia, like the “Face on Mars,” where someone sees objects or patterns in abstract / noisy images.
As the professor has probably seen so many insects and fossils over the last decades, it would be natural for his brain to find those patterns in something like a Rorschach test.
Earth is 100% completely Flat. That is not anything on Mars, Mars is a vibrational frequency not a solid surface. Stop the indoctrination you LIARS…
Idiot
Wow, I never thought about it that way. By the way, which frequencies are not vibrational?
You gotta loosen that tin foil hat a little.
Hmmm. I personally crossed the Bering Strait, between Alaska and Russia back in 1983 before it became a military area. Guess I entered a portal that transported me from one end of earth to the other…
Loosen the tin foil hat or tighten that screw that’s shaken loose. Something’s out of adjustment (maybe your meds.)
Have you ever heard of Pi?
Pareidolia – the brain trying to make sense of patterns & using precognitive bias. Why should any Martian life mirror what we have on Earth? Too much like Earth insects
I personaally beleive that on seeing fozzils of animals, there evidence of billions yrs. existence of life some 4 billions years back
Daniel, please prove to us the claims you speak of.
Thank you.
Is this considered a reputable science website?
These things are definitely too similar to one another and almost have a beetle like appearance, there also appear to be fragments of more of the same in the vicinity.
http://youtu.be/TbwTeJnZeDA
I generally agree with the pareidolia explanation for these findings. But on the contrary to what a couple commenters said: there’s actually fairly good reason to believe life on other planets might appear similar to ours. We see cases here on Earth of completely unrelated species developing similar solutions to the same problems (convergent evolution/analogous structures). Why would you assume evolution on other planets would work any differently?
Interesting. These insects have the same blurriness on camera as the Loch Ness Monster and Big Foot. Does this mean that they are from Mars as well?
This dude is one senile 46 years in the field could be some kudos, but from the poor quality images with fanciful interpretations, it is totally obvious he is going senile.
“gone senile”
Hope he didn’t sprain something with the amount of stretching going on…
Also, Daniel, please see a doctor, you’re not well.
I’d like to see independent confirmations as well as citations
Is this a humor site?
There’s a man on the moon, also
The evidence is a little shaky, professor.
Wait.. people actually think this is legit?
Don’t get me wrong. I’d love to find out that there’s life out there, but this is just silly.
I really hope this gentleman is joking. If he’s not, then I really hope he has someone around him who cares enough to see that he gets the help he needs.
Are you kidding me? The analysis is literally a doodle on a blurry photo of a rock! This is imaginative but not science.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjagZ2pxnps
Garbage.Wings? What atmospheric density could have prevailed on Mars with it’s low gravity and susecptibilty to ionic storms from the sun? Perhaps this “scientist” gained his degree on another planet as well.
While martian life would naturally generate itself uniquely, earth had billions of sheltered years in which to generate complex life. This guy’s seeing birds and snakes. Those are subconsciously emergent historical predators of monkeys.
So sad they will stump to this level to keep money flowing to their causes Do they think we are all stupid????Or is this a joke? If not prove it!!!
I think its another world u never no what itcould be maybe dinosaurshuh
Hey, it’s not April fools yet.
I have a bulge on my pants. Is it from roll of quarters or is it my d
Well it is much to small to be a roll of quarters…
This bologna! This is as scientific as pointing out cloud shapes, only this kind costs taxpayers billions!
Are there better photos? Are they being withheld? Government agencies are factually known to withhold info (i.e. tic-tac UAP). Are we once again being “protected” by the government? I believe that since taxpayers pay for all government activities we should also have access to the info gathered.
Replied seprately. Search this page for “crinoid-like fossil”
This a joke? Might have to find another site for science news now..
I see all sorts of crazy shapes in the clouds like dragons and other things, but just because I see shapes doesn’t mean they are real.
Wait…
Are you saying dragons aren’t real?
This is great news just imagine what people can learn now that life has been discovered on another planet. The best part is that its not just microbes.
With todays tech we should be able to see clear photo’s with detail instead we get pics with so much blur you cant tell whether its a rock or a rock lol but do you really think if there was really something out there the government or NASA would tell us, hell no the ppl are sheep to them we dont matter and to them its non of our business so get ready more years of blury pics from a desert with a rover doing circles in a sand box.
You do realize that those rovers on mars don’t have today’s tech? the most recent rover we sent to mars touched down in 2012. You seem like an absolute moron when you say “today’s tech”. You call everyone else a sheep, but I think it is you that is the sheep. Not thinking, not knowing.
Actually I hope it isn’t true. It looks like a mole cricket. If Mars creatures looks earth creatures then it really isn’t that exciting.
I don’t understand how a site that (ostensibly) reports on science could post this.
I’ve blocked the site from my feeds – as others will – because it’s irresponsible to present obvious idiocy as having value.
As other people noted, the other major science news sites like Phys org had this story as well. I appreciate that this site, unlike the others, had the note about Pareidolia.
I found the article fascinating, even though I believe they are fuzzy pictures of rocks. Plus I came away with learning something new, Pareidolia.
This news/article was also posted on other scientific sites, like Phys.org. We actually aren’t given much info on the actual research, methods used, who collaborated and reviewed the data etc. I honestly don’t know what to make of it until I read and examine actual paper and the research done. The pics presented here could be anything and everything. Daniel, you need to examine your head….
I was just going to say the same thing. Need to see the real paper. And if possible the presentation itself. It was presented yesterday at a legit conference in St. Louis. I’m betting there is video of the presentation itself.
It’s impossible to judge such a claim from a news article – seeing it at Phys.org makes me want to see the source paper.
The telling evidence of alien life on Mars, was kept from the public and recently leaked out. It seems that Curiosity found five empty crushed beer cans and an empty alien pizza box near a rock out cropping. These artifacts made the question; “are we alone?” moot.
All other evidence should be released to the public. After all; corporate America has a stake in this, as McDonalds and Hardy’s are currently investing millions to be the first to put a burger joint on another planet!
This is BS. There is almost no atmosphere on Mars and the avg temperature is far colder than Antartica. Mars currently cannot support insect life and, in fact, could only theoretically support extremaphile life, eg tartagardes etc., for which there has been little if any evidence
You know when you see clouds that have a shape similar to something, but really looks nothing like it? That’s what’s happening here, only with rocks. “Oh look guys, this large potato sized rock on the side of the track MUST be a beetle!”
So, not to be a Debby Downer, but we get to see some pretty detailed pictures of Mars.
Now we have “evidence of life” in the quality of the worst Bigfoot (not the trucks) “footage”??
I’ve got beachfront property in Nevada if anyone’s looking.
Show me a penis and will nominate you for Nobel prize
That is a Rock, or fossilized Poop….
If the images are legitimate and are useable as evidence, they are just as usable as evidence that the Mars probes are actually exploring desolate landscapes on Earth claimed as Martian landscape, or that the Rover missions are digitally fabricated using selected scenery on Earth, sometimes scenery errors such as dead bugs getting past the screeners/editors.
It’s well to note that all large, complete “dinosaur” fossils seen in all museums around the world are imaginative, modelled, factory-made creations based on tiny remnants such as a tooth or piece of bone proposed to be that of a “dinosaur” but which in reality is merely the tiny piece of a regular species found on Earth, such as a whale, mastodon, hippo, bird, etc. 40 to 100 tonne, up to 100 foot tall, whale-size dinosaurs walking on land and thriving? Impossible. The laws of biology and physics would need to be broken. Dinosaurs are stories for gullible-minded children.
The insect picture evidence demands better resolution, it’s a grand claim, just as Rovers exploring Mars is a grand claim, fakery is and has been a prolific, extremely successful business of Modern Civilization for thousands of years.
E.g., 911, obvious technology-based fakery, one of endless thousands of fabricated, misrepresented, falsely portrayed, faked events. Steel and concrete buildings/skyscrapers can only be turned to into thick, high energy, pyroclastic flows of 40 storey tall clouds of microscopic-sized dust that spread for miles by tonnes of well placed explosives, the controlled demolition project allowing the buildings to symmetrically and conveniently fall into their footprints as the three WTC towers did, buildings 1,2, and 7. They were blown to smithereens by tens to hundreds of tonnes of well placed explosives, an event planned from the 1950’s to denote the start of the new millenium of 2001, called Revelation in the Hebrew and Holy Bible, brought to us by the elite cult clan parasite that takes the mythology-based Bibles literally and pushes the cult-clan’s false interpretations on humanity as a means to legitimize the clan’s own beliefs to itself and to control and run modern humanity using covert, underhanded, divide and conquer methods.
Faked events, the modern human is accustomed to accepting them as real via longstanding exposure to these endless frauds that are used to maintain the brainwashing of the modern human, the fakery run by the elite-membered, mafia-structured, cult-clan parasite that owns
controls, and runs Mod Civ as a profit-making (money-skimming) business-racket for its own self glory (fame, idolization).
Racketeering, profiteering, and self idolizing, the game of the cult-clan parasite world family, anything that gets easy money, run covertly, in front of everyone, a self-destructive
parasitic system called Modern Civilization to which all modern humans are now enslaved and on which their lives are completely dependent. Easy money, it means more than life to the parasite, even more than fame and glory, at least for the elite members of the cult clan, the much greater numbered, lower common members have to settle for only fame and glory, oh the woesome IsRaEl-ites, the non-polestar stars of the night celestial sky.
Judaism is night sky Polestarism, ancient symbolically-written, mythologically-portrayed, night celestial sky description taken literally and foisted upon humanity as a means to enslave humanity to the falsehood-promoting, fakery (acting) obsessed, war mongering, easy-money loving, inbreeding, cult clan mafia-family, the Parasite, the Clan.
Yeah, smoke some more of that stuff! A few more hits and it will be flying back to take over the earth. Calling this garbage BS would be a good for it.
Is it April 1st already? I can’t believe this piece made it passed the editors. Trust me, this is a pipe dream based on wishful thinking.
Fossils, yes, quite probably – living creatures? not even in Total Recall! This guy’s been sniffing too many Bunsen burners. (Though I would say not quite as many as Robert Rust) Way back in the solar system’s distant past, there is every indication that Mars was a lot more earthlike including liquid water and an atmosphere that a blue-jay wouldn’t need a thirty foot wing span just to fly in, (to say nothing of the dry-ice climate which prevails now!) It is entirely possible that back then, Mars was indeed teaming with life, be it very different or very similar to life on Earth today and would undoubtably have left at least some fossil record behind. But any Martian life that may have once existed was fossilized long before life appeared here. Even Extremophiles still require minimal basics for life which are now lacking on Mars. I hope people don’t take stock in his “findings” such junk science only lends a dubious name to legitimate research which may some day yet turn up valid evidence of extraterrestrial life.
Rick asks, “Are there better photos?” Yes. Please see the crinoid-like fossil photographed with the Microscopic Imager camera of NASA’s Opportunity rover on sol 34 of that mission (27 Feb 2004), at Mars’ Meridiani Planum, once a wet environment. Within three hours, NASA ground it away without explanation. Discussion and the NASA photo are available at https://www.panspermia.org/whatsnew83.htm#20151028
I have had poops which are better morphological matches for martian life forms than these rocks.
This is not science. It’s one old guy who thinks he sees shapes in bits of rock and soil.
And it’s sad for a serious science publication treating it as anything but nonsense.
Let me further clarify: This has as much science in it as the people who see Jesus in their morning Toast.
Right on snark!
The earth isn’t flat it’s quit obvious that it’s round just watch an eclipse. And life on other planets would look imilar to us not the same but would be close.The earth and Mars have a long history and we are on the brink of figuring it all out,Darwins theory isn’t true if it where than the race of giants that existed hundreds of thousands of years ogo shouldn’t exsist but they do and artifacts date back over 300000 years ago. Figure that one out ? And they did exsist there is proof.that’s why the government stopped the digging of the mounds becase it completely tells a different story of how we came to be .
Today, we placed the same photograph under our Super Hyproximator 400 and after shooting up on fly spray, we identified a flying brontosaurus with five legs.
#Thatsarock
well played
#thatsarock
#thatsarock
This no insect more like a rock
Yeah I’m gonna call bs on this.
Easy question for the “scientist” author: Did he take a control group of millions of pictures of random bug-shaped earth rocks and apply his same analysis on them? Did he check the null hypothesis that one in every umpteen random rocks looks a little bug-like if you stare at it enough?
Wake up, watch this and see the truth!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR8eQzfCOiS1OmYcqv_yQSpje4p7rAE7-
Seriously, the entertainment value of the comments far exceeds the subject matter of this bogus article.
Rocks and shadows.
I see rocks, red lines, red circles and words.
The little green man lives there. I told you so!
Next up from these “serious” science sites, may I suggest the “Gretta is a proven time traveller because we found an old photo that looks vaguely similar to her”: https://nypost.com/2019/11/19/120-year-old-photo-sparks-greta-thunberg-conspiracy-theories/
Awesome. There’s got to be life everywhere on basically all planets one could postulate. Looks real to me.
Daniel Andre needs to slowdown on the glue sniffing
I bet they looked at more than a million rocks, and they found a few that look like rock-shaped insects. If this is solid evidence of life on Mars, then I got a bridge to sell you.
There’s gearboxes on mars, machined bricks, foundations, statues, coffins, fossils, spillways, boats, etc. Yep. Gale crater, mount sharp = debris field. Dingo gap is lousy with statues. Just my opinion.
Looks like he subscribes to the latest IPCC methodology (aka confirmation bias)
Let’s just assume these are fossils of insects/reptiles…. who cares? There once was life on another planet that we do not even occupy. This iswhat billions of tax dollars funds, when there are people starving in THIS world?
I honestly will never understand.
I don’t even want to hear the excuse that we want to potentially live on another planet 1 day. We don’t even have defence for meteors and plently more unoccupied space on earth, if we could put funding into taking care of it.
I think this guy see’s Satan in heavy smoke as well.
I heard they found the body of Jimmy Hoffa too.
If there are insect fossils on Mars, then there must have been plant fossils as well. Where are they?
Prior to analysis, anyone do a correction for the distortion of the lens? This would provide a more accurate image showing the objects ‘true’ shape?
Well now that’s a stretch. Why do conspiracy theories show up on my phone as news?
the ones that look like bugs and humans are just rocks
ya i know
they are all just discolored rocks
ya no kidding
it is photo shopped!!!!!!!
if you look at the second one that is the “” BUG”” you can see the word text
#fakerthanmcdonaldsnuggets
#what is this
#fakefakefakefakefakephotoshopped
all i see is fake photos
same
if they are real why did you blurr them? #fakerthanmcdonaldnuggets
It might be Locutis and this worries me! Mars will be our undoing!
Just because this article does not fit your narrow minded narratives does not mean it shouldn’t be reported on.
This is the kind of junk science that is pervading our modern time. The sad thing is, with the concerted effort to train our young people to accept authority without question, there are too many people who will believe this. They are supposed to have hi-res photos. Who would honestly believe the we would send equipment to Mars that can’t focus? Seek truth people. Don’t praise false intellect.
Not saying he’s right, but as huge as space is are we really believing that Earth is the only planet with life? And, if we did/do ever discover a planet with life and visit it, we would be the aliens.
i dont want anyone here talking big words or nun but this is realy dumb and no one would trust this dumb stuff this is really slow and you is slow if you believe this nonsense. im in 3rd tee-hee
I am baffled that people don’t see everything on mars. Way more than the mind playing tricks. It’s one scary planet and there is still life there and death everywhere. People can’t be that dam stupid. One your eyes.
iit
Lovely rocks – another guy off his rocker.