22 September 2012 | NewScientist | 25

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Curiosity landed in Gale Crater, which contains Mount Sharp, in early August and stunning images followed. Any favourites?my favourite from the early days is the heat shield view we released as Curiosity descended. I think that will become an iconic image, just as the saturn V second-stage and trans-stage separations are famous images of the Apollo era.

Beyond aesthetics, what use are the images?Using mARDI – the mars Descent Imager, which took photos of the ground below as the rover landed – I’ve done what I personally wanted, which was to position the rover very accurately. I also want to make a high-definition video of the landing, smoothing out the jerkiness of four frames per second to a smoother 30 frames per second using optical flow techniques. For mastcam – the twin cameras on the rover’s head, about 2 metres off the ground – my interests are in how the ground got to look the way it does; I’m interested in the processes involved in eroding mount sharp.

What can the Mastcam images tell us about how the ground got to look the way it does?that is the essence of geomorphology. I can’t really answer this question in the absence of data, which we have just started to receive. An example might be as follows: we have not yet seen any sand ripples at the place the rover landed, but there are large sand dunes only a few kilometres away. Why aren’t there ripples near the rover? Is there no sand moving there, or does it move so quickly it doesn’t leave a trace? We don’t know but we will keep our eyes open for evidence as we do our research.

What drew you to planetary geology?Geologists are very lucky, we get to look at beautiful things and figure out how they got to be that beautiful. such understanding can be used to capture and preserve the beauty for posterity, and to enrich people’s enjoyment of these things through better understanding. When I tell people I’m a geologist, they are often full of questions

One minute with…

michael malin

about, and enthusiasm for, what I do. When I tell them I study the geology of mars, their interest increases. What excites me is solving the mysteries I encounter in how planets work.

There was originally a plan to install zoom cameras, a project involving film-maker James Cameron. Did you want cinematic footage?We did not intend to take too many sequences not really oriented towards science or engineering, but if we had flown the zoom-lens cameras, I believe we would have taken some more dramatic, cinematic scenes to illustrate the excitement of mars exploration. this may still be possible with the cameras that flew, but it will be much harder.

Is there any tension between the scientific and public-engagement uses of the cameras?I am pleased to have the public excited about my experiments and mars. But I am not happy with NAsA HQ requiring me to put out raw images to the public in near-real time, without commentary or context. I think we can engage the public better.Interview by Lisa Grossman

the latest images are rekindling public interest in mars and its mysteries, says the geologist who gave Curiosity its “eyes”

ProfiLeMichael Malin worked at NAsA before setting up malin space science systems, which supplied the mastcam, mars Descent Imager and mars Hand Lens Imager for the Curiosity rover

in captivity is better, longer and less brutal than life in the wild.

Similar views still prevail in some quarters. In her recent book Why Animals Matter: Animal consciousness, animal welfare, and human well-being, Marian Stamp Dawkins at the University of Oxford claims we still don’t really know if other animals are conscious and that we should “remain skeptical and agnostic… Militantly agnostic if necessary.”

Dawkins inexplicably ignores the data that those at the meeting used to formulate their declaration, and goes so far as to claim that it is actually harmful to animals to base welfare decisions on their being conscious.

I consider this irresponsible. Those who choose to harm animals can easily use Dawkins’s position to justify their actions. Perhaps given the conclusions of the Cambridge gathering, what I call “Dawkins’s Dangerous Idea” will finally be shelved. I don’t see how anyone who keeps abreast of the literature on animal pain, sentience and consciousness – and has worked closely with any of a wide array of animals – could remain sceptical and agnostic about whether they are conscious.

Let us applaud the Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness and work hard to get animals the protection they deserve. And let us hope that the declaration is not simply a grandstanding gesture but rather something with teeth, something that leads to action. We should all take this opportunity to stop the abuse of millions upon millions of conscious animals in the name of science, education, food, clothing and entertainment. We owe it to them to use what we know on their behalf and to factor compassion and empathy into our treatment of them.  n

Marc Bekoff is an emeritus professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He has written many essays and books about animal emotions, animal consciousness and animal protection

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