Test Equipment Finds Life In Mars-like Conditions

DIY News writes "In a test of equipment that might one day be used to search for biological activity on Mars, researchers discovered life tucked deep inside a frozen Norwegian volcano, a test region said to have geology similar to that of Mars. The test instruments discovered a rare and complex microbial community living in blue ice vents inside a frozen volcano, which is the kind of evidence scientists have been searching for on the Red Planet."

Comments

Cool.

[Capt'n Hector]

Now the question is not whether Mars can support life, it is whether or not Mars could have supported its abiogenesis and subsequent evolution.

Re:Cool.

[hostyle]

I was thinking the same thing. Unless these life-forms evolved completely independent of other similar life-forms on earth, there is practically no corellation between life on earth (albeit at similar temperatures / conditions) and life on another planet. Earth-evolved life surviving on another planet might well be possible, but life beginning there is something else entirely.

Re:This may sound dumb

[Lucractius]

because if you build a fancy machine and dont test it before you actualy get there, What happens when it doesnt work, you dont know if thats actualy a real reliable reading. It doesnt make any sence to send untested equipment millions of miles to search for something when you dont even know if it can find it at all.

The detail is amazing

[ReformedExCon]

While this is amazing proof of life on Earth, unfortunately it is not proof of life on Mars.

These Earth-borne creatures are red because of the propensity of life on Earth to use iron as a key component in blood. I would expect that Martian creatures would have copper coursing through their veins.