Alien Anomalies

OSD, that's an interesting thing to discuss, and I'd like to weigh in.  There are a lot of factors that are different between earth and mars. 

I would tend to agree with you that the lower gravity factor would result in the possibility of larger beings - for instance, bugs should be able to carry larger exoskeletons with less gravity.  But gravity is only one factor.

Current conditions on mars suggest few or no resources - and little liquid water on the surface, if any.  With fewer resources available, historically, we see smaller beings on earth.  The large dinosaurs existed when there was considerably more oxygen in the atmosphere, and loads more resources to eat.   Humans are historically larger in areas and during times where there are more resources; and smaller when fewer resources (vikings may be an exception - not sure).   Some of the smallest known humans evolved on an island with dwindling resources.

In addition, mars has a weaker magnetic field protecting the planet, and therefore is exposed to more cosmic radiation.  This has the potential to break materials down into much smaller particles - with smaller particles we may get smaller organisms as possibilities - building ever smaller biological structures with the smaller material.

The examination of mars meterorite ALH-84001, indicated the possible appearance not of common bacteria - but of nano-sized bacteria.  The shapes were varied and were similar to shapes of earth bacteria - but these shapes could only be seen under an electron microscope - not a normal scientific microscope.  One of the criticisms that these might represent organisms was that bacteria could not possibly be so small.  The magnetite structures now identified within those nano-sized critters tends to indicate the critics were wrong and that mars at least at one time supported nano-sized life forms similar to larger bacteria on earth.

So, while timewarp's claim seems quite bizarre - and not directly supportable with the camera resolutions we have - smaller organisms on mars (if any exist at all) may not be so far out as it appears on its face.

The reason I called the object 'a smoking anomaly' is because if one looks closely steam or smoke can be seen rising from what I interpret as being four independent smoke stacks. I have searched he image galleries for a better image so that a reasonable enlargement and assessment could be made but up to the present have been unable to find one.

As stated in another thread, I calculated that martians are just over one thousand times smaller than people on Earth, so when searching for evidence of recognizable objects and artifacts, it's like searching for a needle in a haystack. Most of the objects I have found are of millimeter scale, not meter scale. The anomalous object shown in this thread is no exception.

One way of viewing this particular object is to consider if this was an aerial scene of a large industrial complex or power station with smoking chimneys on this planet and was being viewed from 2 km above the surface, this is how the object would appear.

I am not saying that it is, but I get the impression from what can be viewed in the image that the object is some form of large industrial complex.

I also thought it looked like the vertebra on a spinal cord but I cannot get a clearer view of it.

Ribs, spinal cord and ribs.