Hacker News Reader

Spatially distributed as opposed to temporally distributed? But it continues to exist in time, so, it is also temporally distributed.

What does spatially distributed mean other than "It exists in one or more locations" like all matter in the universe?

View on HN

Organic matter, i.e. originating from once-living matter.

Spatially distributed: i.e. found in many locations, so unlikely to be a contaminant introduced by the rover, and therefore adding weight to the theory that there was once life on Mars.

> Organic matter, i.e. originating from once-living matter.

No, it means matter composed of organic compounds[1]. It categorically does not in this instance mean originating from once-living matter.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_compound

Reply on news.ycombinator.com