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Man's first step on the Moon is a brilliant memory for me. I was eleven years old and our whole family was piled into the car zipping along the highway, headed home from our Colorado vacation. Dad had the radio volume loud enough so we could hear it well in the back of the station wagon-- and I was rapt. My brother and I kept looking at each other as if to say, "Wow, is this really happening?" My imagination was wild with wonder, the moment sealed vividly in my memory. It is as though it happened yesterday. It is still a thrill.
And now, in the year 2008, we (the Phoenix Lander) sit on a Martian polar ice cap. Yes ICE cap! The scientists believe they've discovered the presence of water on the red planet. And the photographs being constantly beamed back to Earth are nothing short of astounding. So, why then would the media YAWN at this story, ignore it or delegate it to "also-ran" status on their pages and airwaves? Are you kidding me?! MARS. And we discovered ICE.
Science buffs, like me, can find information and pictures with a couple of clicks. But that's not my point. We have a culture saturated in CGI (special effects) and shelves of movies that make a Mars adventure look like a trip to the mall.
Thankfully, the Mars details ARE there if you search, but the news editors would rather talk about Amy Winehouse.
