best bootnote
ever
The southern Martian ice cap is mostly made of water, according to those clever boffins* at MIT. Ice on Mars. Credit: NASA/MOLA Science Team Ice on Mars. Credit: NASA/MOLA Science Team The polar caps on the red planet were thought to be composed largely of a thin layer of frozen CO2, resting over a dust and ice mixture. But …
Seems more like a hopeful calculation and a dodgy inference. After all, the number could be explained as a mixture of solid CO2 and stuff less dense than water. Less harmful, I suppose, than the Lysenko "experiment" and other social policy tarfus closer to home.
Tomorrow, folks, I am going to experimentally verify that 2+2=4 by thinking it. Yup, got my coat on already.
" [ ... ] the polar caps were thought to be more likely to contain CO2 than water, because the atmosphere of Mars is so arid. (On reflection, that sentence rather suggests the presence of frozen water [ ... ] "
Huh? Arid means no water. It doesn't suggest that there's frozen water to me - the Sahara is arid too, does that mean you expect to find ice-cubes in the middle of it?