Stories, 2001-2005, in reverse chronological order. Really, all you need is the 2005 realization:
No water on Mars for billions of years.
More evidence that Mars is cold and dry, and has been for 3 billion years. USGS Press release, October 24, 2003. There are very large outcrops of olivine on the Martian surface. On Earth, olivine doesn't last long, because it breaks down easily by weathering, with water playing the major role in that process.
Estimates of more water on Mars. BBC News OnLine, February 16, 2003. Come on, folks, let's be real: Earth's water is not ankle-deep but 3 kilometers deep! And Earth's water isn't lost to space the way Mars water would be if we let it loose.
"White Mars" again. Press release, January 7, 2003. This is the idea that the fluid flow that produced gullies on Mars was not water, but liquid carbon dioxide. A re-statement by its main protagonist, Nick Hoffman.
The largest floods in the Solar System (on Mars) (but VERY ancient ones). Press release, University of Arizona, August 9, 2001.
Speculation that there can be current water flow on Mars. Press release, University of Arizona, July 31, 2001.
SOME IMAGES of water-laid sediments on Mars (but VERY ancient ones).
June 2000. NASA announces the discovery of water-carved gullies on Mars, and they look fresh, therefore new. The media immediately jump on the "There-IS-water on Mars" aspect of the story.
Last updated February 21, 2005.
Links last checked July 4, 2010.
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