Mars Findings Hint at Life

BBC News Online science editor Dr. David Whitehouse reports tiny magnetic grains found in a meteorite from Mars are identical to grains produced by some strains of bacteria on Earth. Researchers claim, If you did not know that this rock was from Mars, and if you studied it, you would conclude that it contains evidence for past life. Dr. Kathie Thomas-Keprta, Lockheed Martin Corporation. The new findings will reopen the debate about whether the rock contains fossil evidence of ancient life on the Red Planet. The study, published in the journal Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta, took four years to complete. Those behind it include some of the original scientists that first put forward the controversial idea that odd structures on the meteorite called ALH84001 represented the remains of Martian microbes. Just over a dozen Martian meteorites like ALH84001 have been found on Earth, "If you did not know that this rock was from Mars,you would conclude that it contains evidence for past life." Thanks to BBC News | SCI/TECH.

Filer's Files #7. February 12, 2001. URL: www.filersfiles.com/ [April 10, 2001]

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