[peterlk]

Why does no one ever talk about these with respect to Mars? It seems like a research-worthy pursuit to see if we can engineer plants (bacteria?) like this to modify the climate of Mars, or to make artificial superstructures self-sustaining.

[overcast]

Shouldn't it be a research-worthy pursuit to modify(fix) the climate of the planet we're already living on? I'm not sure what attempting to live on a desolate planet is going to do for us. Say we turn it into another Earth, now what? We ruin that one too?

[UnpossibleJim]

We should research stabilizing our climate. Absolutely. But while we are at it, it would also be in our interest to make humans a multiplanet species, in order to protect us from a global extinction threat that isn't man made, as well. Super volcanoes, calderas (pretty much the same, I know), large meteor strikes.... none of these have anything to do with man made pollutants, and survival of the species is kind of a neat little concept, in my opinion =) Granted, we would probably become a new species in several thousand years, once we were off planet, due to the radiation and gravity differences, but hopefully the problem solving and intelligences would remain.

[throwaway5752]

Because Mars doesn't have liquid water or an atmosphere, so most "efforts" (or at least pontificating) are on those primary problems that would preclude plant life.

[gbrown]

Mars most definitely has an atmosphere... just not much of one.