Editor’s note: the following is a response provided to SpaceRef by the JSC Mars Meteorite Team (David McKay, Kathie Thomas-Keptra, and Everett Gibson) regarding a paper “Magnetite morphology and life […]
Mars
Posted inMars, Press Release
Mars Revisted
To Bruce Jakosky, life’s demonstrated ability to weather almost anything Earth can dish out makes a strong argument that life probably does exist elsewhere in the universe. One likely spot, […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Mars, Meteorites & Asteroids, Microbiology & Virology, Status Report
Commentary by NASA ARC’s Chris McKay on Magnetotactic Bacteria on Mars
The recent paper by Imre Friedmann and co-authors in PNAS (PNAS vol 98 page 2176, 2001) reports finding chains of magnetite that are consistent with a biological origin.
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Meteorites & Asteroids, Microbiology & Virology, Panspermia
4 Years Later … The Case For Life On Mars Withstands Criticism, Gains Support
The editors of Precambrian Research and the team that startled the scientific world in August 1996 with evidence they had found in a Martian meteorite indicating that life once existed […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Mars, Meteorites & Asteroids, Press Release
New Evidence Strengthens Claims of Ancient Life on Mars – Study of Martian Meteorite Reveals Magentic Fossils
Researchers have found magnetic material in a 4.5-billion-year-old Martian meteorite that could only have been produced by bacteria. This new data strongly supports the primitive life on Mars hypothesis of […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Meteorites & Asteroids, Microbiology & Virology, Press Release
New Report Offers Evidence of Primitive Life on Mars
A new scientific report offers compelling evidence that primitive life existed on Mars. Tiny magnetite crystals, identical to those used by aqueous bacteria on Earth as compasses to find food […]
Posted inAstrobiology (general), Astrogeology, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Sample Return
A Year of Mars News: It was the worst of times; it was the best of times.
Mars Disappoints A little over a year ago NASA was poised on the cusp of a new phase in its exploration of Mars. A new sophisticated orbiter was ready to […]
Posted inAnalog Studies, Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Mars
Arctic and Antarctic Analogs for Liquid Water on Mars
In June 2000 the world got another dose of Mars hysteria similar, but more limited in amplitude, to the attention that accompanied the ALH84001 Mars meteorite announcement in 1996. The […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Meteorites & Asteroids, Microbiology & Virology, Panspermia
British Researchers Try to Challenge Evidence of Mars Meteorite Fossils – But Don’t Make Their Case
In 1996 the world held its breath for a moment as David McKay and Everett Gibson from NASA’s Johnson Space Center revealed evidence which they felt pointed to the distinct […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Meteorites & Asteroids, Panspermia, Press Release
Doubt cast on life on Mars – University of Greenwich Reproduces Chemical Structures Found In Meteorites
The complex chemical structures found in a meteorite from Mars, which scientists in 1996 hailed as possible evidence of past life on the planet, can be reproduced quite simply in […]