High-resolution images 
 
of the north pole on Mars 
 
over the course of two 
 
summers left researchers 
 
amazed to discover 
 
changes in the planet's 
 
surface from one season 
 
to the next. 
 
Specifically, 
 
areas of sand previously 
 
believed to frozen, with 
 
the last activity occurring 
 
around 30,000 years ago, 
 
were instead observed 
 
to undergo significant 
 
movement over this 
 
two-year Martian period. 
 
Factors for this change 
 
include a seasonal 
 
fluctuation of frozen 
 
atmospheric carbon dioxide, 
 
which takes the form 
 
of dry ice, as well as 
 
strong gusts of wind 
 
across the planet's surface. 
 
The CO2 component 
 
is due to the gas freezing 
 
and covering 
 
the wintry pole. 
 
As thawing occurs in spring, 
 
the dry ice changes 
 
directly back to CO2 gas. 
 
Noting her team's 
 
astonishment 
 
at the degree of change 
 
over just one Mars year, 
 
study lead and co-author 
 
Dr. Candice Hansen 
 
of the Planetary Science 
 
Institute in Arizona, USA 
 
stated, “This gas flow 
 
destabilizes the sand… 
 
causing sand avalanches 
 
and creating new alcoves, 
 
gullies and sand aprons 
 
on Martian dunes.” 
 
 
The researchers also 
 
observed what appeared 
 
to be powerful winds 
 
in the north, resulting in 
 
the surprising formation 
 
and disappearance 
 
of sand avalanches. 
 
With some 40% of all 
 
locations in the region 
 
noted to have changed, 
 
Dr. Hansen concluded, 
 
“We've got to look at 
 
Mars as a place that 
 
has active geology in 
 
today's climate, not just 
 
sometime in the past.” 
 
Many thanks, Dr. Hansen 
 
and colleagues for these 
 
fascinating insights 
 
into the evolution of 
 
the universe around us. 
 
May such scientific 
 
observation continue 
 
to shed light on planetary 
 
processes that help us 
 
understand how to 
 
better appreciate and 
 
preserve planet Earth. 
 
During a 2009 
 
videoconference 
 
with Supreme Master 
 
Television staff 
 
in the USA, 
 
Supreme Master Ching Hai 
 
revealed how human-
 
caused climate change 
 
devastated the surface of 
 
Mars and what has been 
 
occurring 
 
on the Red Planet since, 
 
as a way to caution about 
 
the Earth's similar situation. 
 
Supreme Master Ching Hai: They passed on 
 
the knowledge of what 
 
happened of their planet 
 
to their children 
 
and grandchildren, 
 
even though 
 
it's 40 million years ago. 
 
They retain the history 
 
of what happened, so that 
 
the descendants know 
 
how to take care of 
 
what they have and 
 
not to be careless, 
 
and not to be 
 
so destructive anymore 
 
but more virtuous 
 
and spiritual. 
It's not for human 
 
to even restore this kind 
 
of catastrophically 
 
destructed planet. 
 
But the planet will revive 
 
itself by natural process. 
 
And it takes
 
1 more million years;
1 million years more 
 
and Mars will be 
 
habitable. 
 
Small bushes will begin 
 
to grow and then 
 
weeds and grass and then
 
fruit trees, etc, etc. 
 
Rivers and streams 
 
and sea will begin 
 
to form again. 
 
And gradually human 
 
and animals will be able 
 
to settle on Mars' surface 
 
again. 
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2011/02/04/3128281.htm, 
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/02/mars-shifty-sand-dunes/, 
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/profile.cfm?Code=HansenChttp://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=235360