Access through your institution Buy or subscribe Sir In your News Feature on the search for organic molecules in martian soil 'Secrets of the martian soil' (Nature 448, 742–744;

2007), you say that the mass spectrometer on NASA's Phoenix lander will be used on “samples heated as high as 1,000 °C — twice the temperature of Viking's ovens”, which is defined

as 500 °C. Of course, the former temperature is only about 65% higher than the latter, since absolute zero is −273 °C. Although this is not a big mistake, it does not aid the understanding

of scientific fundamentals by the general public. This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution ACCESS OPTIONS Access through your institution Subscribe to this

support AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas, Vassilika Vouton, PO Box 1527, Iraklio,

Crete 71210, Greece, Alexandros Kiupakis Authors * Alexandros Kiupakis View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints

and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Kiupakis, A. Turning up the heat on scientific accuracy. _Nature_ 449, 281 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/449281d Download citation *

Published: 19 September 2007 * Issue Date: 20 September 2007 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/449281d SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this

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