We've Detected Lightning on Mars

wongarsu 7 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

This discovery is thanks to Perseverance having microphones. It's crazy to think about that 2021 was the first time we had working microphones on Mars.

The first Mars Microphone was originally supposed to land in 1999 on the Polar Lander, but that one didn't survive the landing. The next was in 2008 on Phoenix 's Mars Descent Imager, but in integration testing a bug was discovered that made the Descent Imager risky to use, so that was never activated. And on all the rovers since then a microphone wasn't deemed important enough compared to all the other possible payloads

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Razengan 10 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Does that mean Mars' ground is electrically charged (positively or negatively) or what?

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verisimi 40 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

Did I?

Sorry, it's a pretty peeve of mine to reject inclusion in some sort collective that I have no awareness of. In my world attribution should be stated clearly, so the title should be the far less catchy 'Research Institute in Astrophysics and Planetology in France detected lightning on Mars'.

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baiwl a minute ago | parent | next [-]

Right? It wasn’t me. So was it Gizmodo, the website where this was posted?

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stavros 33 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Are you saying you reject the use of "we" for any group that doesn't include you?

	▲	freehorse a minute ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I assume it is essentially more about if it includes the author of the article. In the specific case, the author is a journalist not a scientist part of the actual group that did the work, so their "we" seems to forcingly include everybody in the planet, thus also OP here. I dont think OP would have an issue if one of the scientists in this case used "we".
	▲	Razengan 10 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		It's specially annoying when people use it to latch on to achievements they had no part in. Like Americans today going "We stopped Hitler" etc.

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wongarsu 22 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I'd assume most French would be happy with "France detected Lightning on Mars"

I read the title as equivalent to "Humanity detected Lightning on Mars", which I'm also perfectly happy with

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freehorse 6 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

The journalist writing the article starts with

> Scientists analyzed 28 hours of recordings over two Martian years, listening for electrical signals.

Not with

> We analyzed 28 hours of recordings over two Martian years, listening for electrical signals.

Nor

> Humanity analyzed 28 hours of recordings over two Martian years, listening for electrical signals.

Somehow it would be weird to assume that "everybody" put the effort into this, but "we" all reap the success.

On the other hand, this is done with taxpayer money, and even if not, it is done in the context of the whole global economy and we are all interconnected and everybody steps on the shoulders of giants anyway, so, in the grand scale of things, a use of "we" can make sense for everything that happens.

Moreover, OP's argument holds also for the france case anyway.

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simgt 12 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

I did not think much of the title before reading the parent comment as I also read "humanity", but now it's the lack of consistency and double standards that annoy me. "France detected Lightning on Mars", fine, let's stop cutting the funding of public research so we can keep on saying we. Also let's title "We released GPT-5", "We landed a rocket on a barge".

	▲	thatjoeoverthr 5 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Maybe let's extend it to negative things, too. "We crashed a Yugo into a bollard."

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thatjoeoverthr 8 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

I assume you're downvoted for pedantry (understandable) but it is a real pattern. Whenever it's a space topic it's always "we" or "Japan" or "America". Nobody is so vague on other topics. I suspect it's a throwback to the Cold War space race when the major players did flights in a geopolitical context. If the institute's name is very long, like here, maybe "Scientists detected ..." or "Researchers ..."

	▲	wongarsu 2 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Imho it's a quirk due to English's hate for the passive voice. Most languages would just go with "Lightning was detected on Mars". Naming the institute does not add any value to the average reader here, nor does the word "Scientists". "France" adds a bit of value, so that'd be the next best thing after the passive voice