A Field Guide to Finding Fossils on Mars

The Martian surface is cold, dry, exposed to biologically harmful radiation and apparently barren today. Nevertheless, there is clear geological evidence for warmer, wetter intervals in the past that could have supported life at or near the surface. This evidence has motivated National Aeronautics and Space Administration and European Space Agency to prioritize the search for any remains or traces of organisms from early Mars in forthcoming missions. Informed by (1) stratigraphic, mineralogical and geochemical data collected by previous and current missions, (2) Earth's fossil record, and (3) experimental studies of organic decay and preservation, we here consider whether, how, and where fossils and isotopic biosignatures could have been preserved in the depositional environments and mineralizing media thought to have been present in habitable settings on early Mars. We conclude that Noachian‐Hesperian Fe‐bearing clay‐rich fluvio‐lacustrine siliciclastic deposits, especially where enriched in silica, currently represent the most promising and best understood astropaleontological targets. Siliceous sinters would also be an excellent target, but their presence on Mars awaits confirmation. More work is needed to improve our understanding of fossil preservation in the context of other environments specific to Mars, particularly within evaporative salts and pore/fracture‐filling subsurface minerals

Homelessness and Police Contact

Research regarding the homeless and their interactions with law enforcement is sparse. The current study examines the perceptions homeless men and women have of police officers in the Fargo-Moorhead area. Data for this study was collected via fifty-one semi-structured interviews with guests at three homeless shelters in the Fargo-Moorhead area. Roughly half of those interviewed have a positive opinion of police officers. The results demonstrate that the perceptions of police officers held by those interviewed is based largely on the amount of respect that they receive. If individuals feel they are respected by police officers, their perception is generally more positive. The results also show several of problems expressed by respondents in regards to how they view the homeless are treated by police. A number of policy implications and directions for future research are discussed