We Might Have Accidentally Killed the Only Life We Ever Found on Mars Nearly 50 Years Ago

https://daily.jstor.org/we-might-have-accidentally-killed-the-only-life-we-ever-found-on-mars/

51 points · 4 comments · view on lemmy.world

4 Comments

janNatan@lemmy.ml · 55 pts · 3y (2 replies)

Worth noting the article argues we killed life on Mars inside of a sample taken, NOT all life on Mars.

mangotop@lemmy.world · 38 pts · 3y

great article, but the clickbait title is clearly intended to be misleading

Agamemnon@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 3y

A very important distinction.

Agamemnon@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 3y

I do agree with the conclusion. - A new mission dedicated to answering the question of life on Mars is warranted. Earthbound discoveries of extremophile microbial life in the past decades have broadened our definition of life-enabling environmental conditions and discoveries of new classes of only intermittently alive cells/spores have broadened our definition of life itself.

Plus, apart from satisfying our curiosity, we will very likely get some insights into our own biochemistry along the way.