Mars

Why all the fuss about the Soviets beating us to Mars? Hasn't it always been called the "Red Planet?" STEVE JACOBY Los Angeles

Investigators don't know where 15-year-old Sierra LaMar is, but they are almost certain she is dead. For more than two months, the high school cheerleader's family has been holding out hope. They have organized repeated searches of the Northern California neighborhood where she disappeared and made numerous public appeals for help. On Tuesday, even as authorities announced the arrest of a 21-year-old suspect on suspicion of murder, Marlene LaMar vowed not to stop looking for her daughter.

Re "Preparing for a Martian climbing trip," May 12 John Grotzinger, head scientist for the NASA mission that will try to land a rover on Mars in August, acknowledges that the mission will not search directly for life there. Left unsaid is that several experiments that could search directly for life have fallen victim to shortsighted budget decisions. These include an experiment designed by Gilbert Levin that could validate the Viking landers' "labeled release" findings in 1976 that were consistent with the presence of microbial life in the Martian soil, and another designed by Christopher Carr that would look for and attempt to sequence Martian DNA. Even more disappointing, plans to retrieve Martian rocks for study on Earth have been postponed indefinitely.

Re "Preparing for a Martian climbing trip," May 12 John Grotzinger, head scientist for the NASA mission that will try to land a rover on Mars in August, acknowledges that the mission will not search directly for life there. Left unsaid is that several experiments that could search directly for life have fallen victim to shortsighted budget decisions. These include an experiment designed by Gilbert Levin that could validate the Viking landers' "labeled release" findings in 1976 that were consistent with the presence of microbial life in the Martian soil, and another designed by Christopher Carr that would look for and attempt to sequence Martian DNA. Even more disappointing, plans to retrieve Martian rocks for study on Earth have been postponed indefinitely.

Nearly half a century ago, we sent men to the moon because we had to stop the world from thinking that the Soviet Union, having put a man in orbit, had surpassed the United States in science and technology. When Americans walked on the moon, we were back in first place, with the Russians keeping the lead in ballet, caviar and vodka. So we halted continued moon landings. On July 20, 1989, President George H.W. Bush announced the Space Exploration Initiative, which called for returning astronauts to the moon, this time to stay, and then on to Mars.

Those king-size Mars and Snickers bars in vending machines are about to shrink to a more princely size. By the end of 2013, confectionery giant Mars Inc. will sell only chocolate bars that are 250 calories or less, according to NPR . A full king-size Snickers bar contains more than 500 calories, according to Mars' website . But many of Mars' other chocolate confections, including king-size 3 Musketeers and Milky Way bars already clock...

If the United States spent billions on sending a man to Mars, would we become a collective illegal alien who wants to use up Mars' resources? JUANITA REYES Placentia

Instead of trying to prove there is life on Mars, perhaps scientists should first prove there is life on Earth. HOPE BRYSON Los Angeles

Perhaps NASA now realizes that neither metric nor English units work on Mars and will use Martian units on the next try. JOHN MAYS Malibu

A few weeks ago, Jared Leto got a letter in the mail. It was addressed to the 30 Seconds to Mars singer in formal, feminine script and arrived on thick, azure-colored paper. The return address was the real surprise, however -- the Paris home of Olivia de Havilland, the "Gone With the Wind" actress who in a roundabout way helped save the band's career. Last year, the group was staring down a $30-million lawsuit from its parent label, EMI, over future albums the label claimed the band owed the company.

If you know anything at all about Del Mar, it's that the seaside town north of San Diego is the place to play the ponies. The horses aren't the only thoroughbreds in the track's history; you'll hear it connected to such names as Bing Crosby, W.C. Fields, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, jockey Willie Shoemaker and, my favorite, Seabiscuit. But I'd encourage a Del Mar visit any time except the July 18-Sept. 5 racing season, just for the peace and quiet. The bed. I was here for a family wedding at L'Auberge del Mar Resort & Spa (1540 Camino del Mar; [800]

In August, NASA's Mars Science Laboratory will reach the Red Planet and begin its search for habitats that could have supported life. The next-generation rover, better known by the nickname Curiosity, will pick its way up a mound in the middle of Gale crater and look for evidence that water once flowed on the Martian surface - a condition that is considered a prerequisite for hosting microbial beings. On an expedition to the California desert this month to demonstrate some of the challenges Curiosity will face on Mars, scientists chatted about the upcoming mission.

Many growers proudly advertise their local origins, but when David Rosenstein of Evo Farm sells his produce on Sunday for the first time at the Mar Vista farmers market, he says he will be talking "not about food miles, but food feet. " Rosenstein has built an innovative prototype aquaponics farm, combining aquaculture and hydroponic (soilless) vegetable cultivation, in a neighbor's backyard. Each of these systems by itself generates copious waste, but when they are synergized, the fish provide the fertilizer for the plants and the plants filter the water for the fish.

After a 14-year dark spell, the remodeled Port Theater in Corona del Mar will reopen during this year's Newport Beach Film Festival with free screenings and seminars. The theater will officially welcome the public back on Saturday with the seminar series "Vision and Craft: The Art of Filmmaking," from 1 to 5 p.m. "Kingdom Come," a documentary by first-time director Daniel Gillies, will be screened at 5:30 p.m. The buzz surrounding the reopening of the East Coast Highway venue, which closed in 1998, could have been expected to increase ticket sales, but festival organizers said they decided to offer all of the programming for free throughout the festival, which opens Thursday and runs through May 3. "We thought that this was an important opportunity to give back to community and we are hopeful that in the future, patrons and sponsors will underwrite these opportunities," said Gregg Schwenk, the festival's chief executive.

Dear Vin, Greetings from Chavez Ravine, where Dodger Stadium just held a 50th birthday party with a bunch of candles, loads of singing, but no cake. We missed you. You were absent for only your second home opener in 63 years, yet your voice here has never been louder. The Dodgers said you have a cold, yet it's the rest of us who are shivering. The Dodgers said you should return to work in a couple of days, yet it is the rest of us who now feel like calling in sick.

Mars doesn't have tornadoes. It doesn't have thunderstorms. But the Red Planet can kick up a truly unholy dust devil. Such a phenomenon -- 12 miles high in fact -- was photographed last month on the surface of the planet. "It really is the size of it that is the unique thing," said Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist Ashwin Vasavada. "Conditions allowed this single giant vortex to form and survive to suck up dust all the way to that height. " The sun beats down on the desert-like surface of Mars and -- with the lack of water and the "extremely thin atmosphere" -- convection begins, said  Vasavada, deputy project scientist for the Mars Science Laboratory.

We can establish a human outpost on Mars in our generation, and reputable scientists are finally getting on board with the idea. Risky though it may be, we have the technology to place a person on the Red Planet. But, if NASA demands that the Mars explorer must return to Earth, then the idea becomes more like science fiction, and colonization probably can't be achieved within the lifespan of those now reading this article. For a Mars colony to be a reality within the next 15 or so years, the first traveler would have to live out his or her life as a permanent resident of an alien desert world.

MORGAN HILL, Calif. - Fliers bearing an image of the wide-eyed, smiling teen are taped to every box that leaves Dutchman's Pizza, a high school hangout. Pink and yellow ribbons adorn every tree on the median strip of this quaint downtown. A local elementary school serves as a command center, where more than 600 volunteers gathered beneath clearing skies Friday to continue the search for Sierra LaMar. The 15-year-old Northern California cheerleader, law enforcement officials believe, was abducted outside her home the morning of March 16. Santa Clara County officers and FBI agents have interviewed dozens of Sierra's friends and family members.

A Zen-inspired garden marks the entrance of a Mar Vista home designed in the International style and surrounded by stands of bamboo. At the heart of the U-shaped home, which looks out on a lap pool, is a two-story great room with a wet bar, fireplace and clerestory windows. Location: 3571 Grand View Blvd., Los Angeles 90066 Asking price: $2.695 million Year built: 2006 Architect: Ron Godfredsen House size: Four bedrooms, three bathrooms, 4,250 square feet Lot size: 10,804 square feet Features: Floor-to-ceiling glass windows, recessed doors, 40-foot lap pool, guest suite with patio, two fireplaces, skylights, basement, den, media room, office, wine cellar, gym. About the area: Last year, 263 single-family homes sold in the 90066 ZIP Code at a median price of $705,000, according to DataQuick.