Guest: Dr. Gilbert (Gil) Levin. Topics: Mars Viking lander, search for Martian life, organics, & needed experiments. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those of you interested in the opportunity to submit feedback on the NRC congressionally mandated Human Spaceflight Study, go to www.nationalacademies.org/humanspaceflight. Please remember that your Amazon Purchases Can Help Support The Space Show/OGLF (http://www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm). Note that about 1 hour six minutes 20 seconds into this program, we had a power fluctuation for about 30 seconds. Please excuse the interruptions in our recording as a result of the brief outage. We welcomed Dr. Gilbert (Gil) Levin to the program for this 1 hour 25 minute broadcast. For more information, please visit Dr. Levin's website, www.gillevin.com. We started our interview with a question from Leonard David asking "why is NASA running away from answering the life on Mars question?" Dr. Levin said he had been asking the same question for 37 years and suggested several reasons including no organics, thus no life, religion, a conspiracy theory, and the most likely scenario in that such an announcement would delay or possibly prohibit human flights to Mars. Dr. Levin went into more detail on each of these reasons, then later in the discussion Doug called in and suggested another reason, the fear of failure. Dr. Levin talked about his experiments during this segment, the results so far, and the meaning. He was asked many listener questions including one about perchlorates on Mars, liquid water, and searching for life via other Mars instruments including Curiosity. Sandra emailed in a question about the religious paradigm he had mentioned earlier and Curt asked a series of questions including the subject of radiation. We talked about the private sector taking on more and more of the Mars searching for life missions, then Dr. Levin talked about the need for a fresh look at the Viking data by a truly objective panel. He said all of the data was online and accessible. John called with a series of questions/comments just before our break. In the second segment, we talked about Complexity Analysis & the Wave Guide Theory. Several questions came in regarding the Viking Labeled Release Experiments, then Gil was asked if initially he had anticipated the level of controversy resulting from Viking. A listener asked about detecting DNA like molecules on Mars and Gil explained why DNA would not work. Many other topics & issues were discussed including his patents & other research so don't miss this interview. We also talked about using Kickstarter to fund a fresh, objective look at the Viking data. Post your comments/questions on TSS blog per above. You can email Dr. Levin at the address he provided at the end of the program. You can also see his Mars papers and work on his website.
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