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Basically, if you were offered an opportunity to travel to travel on the first manned mission to Mars with, say, 10 strangers and start a human colony, would you take it? You would have to leave behind your family, friends, pets, and life as you know it. On the other hand, you would be one of the first people to go to Mars! Personally, I'd definitely go, as a huge space nerd, and the fact that I would finally be able to do something useful and make a difference. To be brutally honest, nobody would really miss me, and most people would be happier if I was 225 million km away from them.

No, this isn't about the spectacular Doctor Who episode. I'm talking about what I can't believe no one else is talking about here... The discovery of liquid water on the surface of Mars. For the first time, we know that there are streams of fluid saltwater flowing across another planet. Moreover, a planet that's right next door to us in the Solar System. The implications of this are breathtaking--could we build a functioning colony there? Could there be microbes lurking in the streams, or in aquifers underneath? If conditions for life are feasible on so many hotspots throughout our solar system, could we be on the brink of finding single-celled life that is not of this world?