Water, water everywhere?

[Technomancer]

Here's an interesting bit of news:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/news/mro-20080716.html

What I'd really like to see one day are some drill cores from these places. Long periods of flowing water certainly improve the odds of there once having been life on Mars.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

While that's cool it doesn't mean there will be intelligent life.

[Doubleshadow]

While that's cool it doesn't mean there will be intelligent life.

Super-intelligent fossilized amoebas. XD

I'm reminded of when 18th century astronomers mistook the occasional darkening of Mars as a rainy season when it was dust storms, and wrote about the 'Martian Canals'.

I would be interested in seeing if analyzing the clay from the delta turned up even primitive biomolecules, let alone any type of self-replicating, conglomerated assortment thereof.

[Technomancer]

While that's cool it doesn't mean there will be intelligent life.

To be fair, I don't think anyone's expecting that. It does however, give us a fuller picture of Mars' past, and indicate suitable locations for further research. Previously, it had been a matter of some argument just how long Mars' water stayed on the surface. Were the water-related features the result of persistent surface water, or were they the result of singular events, such as volcanic activity or meteroite impacts?