Regular readers will know how frustrated I get by the continual see-sawing about water on Mars … but it’s like a particularly thick and itchy scab I just can’t leave alone. So here we go again – remember the terrain that was too hilly to have been evidence of oceans on the Red Planet? It were disfigured by a massive warping of the Martian rock! Says one Mark Richards, “This really confirms that there was an ocean on Mars.” Right … until next month at least. It’s a shameful thing to admit, but I’m so sick of this whole business I was actually pleased to hear New Scientist had to retract the ‘puddles of liquid’ story. Can we please just get some proper damned missions out there and sort this out once and for all? Either that, or stop making dramatic sweeping announcements based on insufficient evidence?