Aerospace developer Sir Charles Shults discussed his research into anomalies on Mars, notably what he believes to be fossils on the Martian surface. "What I have found is basically the remains of organisms that look like sea urchins. We've found some shark teeth, sea shells ... everything is of a marine nature," Shults said of his investigation into Mars rover data (see Martian Anomalies below). He theorized that the prevalence of sea life on Mars would be because the "ocean would function as a surrogate atmosphere" and protect life from the otherwise harsh Martian environment.
Shults noted one specific type of anomaly that has come up repeatedly in his research: oddly shaped objects "like rinds ... imagine cutting an avacado in sections and pulling the seed out of the middle." He suggested that these objects are the fossils of animals called blastoids. "These organisms left their remains, apparently, all over the planet," Shults mused. While he expressed "no doubt" that there was once life on Mars, he was skeptical that it was intelligent life, "in my opinion, anything native to Mars was probably no smarter than a shark or a squid."
Joining the conversation during the third hour, Richard C. Hoagland talked with Shults about NASA's failure to address these anomalies. Hoagland asserted that this is a deliberate act of concealment, saying "I'm of the school that they're as clever as all get out and that they do not mean to ever tell us the truth." While they agreed that NASA had been tinkering with the color of Mars images, they parted company on the reasons behind it. Hoagland saw a darker agenda at work whereas Shults suggested that it may have been merely to avoid cries of hoaxing from a skeptical public that wouldn't accept images of an Earth-like Martian surface.
Brewing Conflicts
Appearing during the first hour, author and adventurer Robert Young Pelton talked about heightened global tensions. He was skeptical about Israel going to war with Iran, but noted that Iran has been "fighting Israel for decades" through proxies like Hezbollah.
On the subject of the recent terror attack in Mumbai, Pelton opined that it was "essentially an attack by Pakistan on India to take pressure off what's going on along their border with Afghanistan." According to him, alienated Islamic fundamentalists there are uprising against Pakistan's American-friendly president Asif Ari Zardari.