Hope springs eternal for life on Mars. And new research shows that it is likely that water springs up from shallow aquifers to shape gully-like features found on the red planet. Images taken by the Mars Global Surveyor show clear evidence of gully landforms. But what caused the features has been hotly debated. There are those who see a tie to liquid water bubbling up from subsurface. Some researchers concede that the gullies were formed by liquid water, but from dissipating snowpacks or melting ground ice. Others have speculated that erosive forces, such as wind or liquid carbon dioxide have gouged out the features.