Scientists Look at Martian Salt for Ancient Life

eldavojohn writes "Is there life on Mars? Maybe not, but a better question might be whether or not it has ever existed on Mars? Scientists are claiming that the best indication for this will be in newly found evaporated salt deposits on Mars which they can use to check for cellulose. Here on earth, tiny fuzzy fibers have been found in salt dating back almost 250 million years making it the oldest known evidence of life on earth. Jack Griffith, a microbiologist from UNC, is quoted as saying, 'Cellulose was one of the earliest polymers organisms made during their evolution, so it pops out as the most likely thing you'd find on Mars, if you found anything at all. Looking for it in salt deposits is probably a very good way to go.'"

Comments

Salt and astrobiology

[Geoffrey.landis]

Salt on Mars has been a topic of interest for a while-- I wrote about the implications of Martian salt for Astrobiology a couple of years back, in an article in Astrobiology

slightly inaccurate summary

[cowscows]

The article summary says that the cellulose found in 250 million year old salt is the oldest known evidence for life on Earth. That's not true, there's ample of evidence of life for billions of years before that. The article states that the 250 million year old salt is the oldest biological substance known, which is pretty cool, but there are plenty of other types of evidence for life besides just finding dead tissue.

Return Sample?

[Gat0r30y]

Wouldn't this require a sample coming back here? It looks like they needed a Scanning Electron Microscope to see the cellulose fibers. It seems to me they would have to return a sample of the salts in order to see anything. Are there any plans for a sample return mission to mars anytime soon?

Re:Return Sample?

[Tablizer]

You've been watching too much sci-fi...It's unlikely that something from such a wildly different evolutionary line would even be infectious to us.

1. We don't know that with any certainty. It may end up being a "contest" to see which side can evolve an advantage over the other first before immunities are built up by both sides.

2. Mars life may be related. Studies suggest asteroids can blast spores betweens planets.

It's still pretty rare that diseases jump species here

But species jumpers also tend to be some of the deadliest. Livestock are notorious for producing whoppers.

Re:Return Sample?

[SatanicPuppy]

I don't honestly think there will be any evolutionary pressure, simply because there is no vehicle for it. In the case of livestock viruses, those viruses are passed around the animal populations for huge amounts of time before one manages to jump the divide. We live in close proximity to the livestock, so there is a good chance, given enough time, that a virus will mutate in just the right way, and that that mutation will happen in the right time and place to find a suitable host.

None of that applies to a theoretical martian virus that's got no growth vector and no suitable host animal that it's evolved to live in, that we like to hang out with. It would have to have us nailed the first time, no tests, no practice. That's pretty damn unlikely.

The asteroid thing is of course possible, but again pretty unlikely. In that scenario, it'd be more likely that we've already been infected with martian bacteria and have built up immunity than it is that our whole ecosystem is parallel to theirs, and their theoretical hostile bacteria are out there now, waiting.

250 million?

[Tablizer]

Here on earth, tiny fuzzy fibers have been found in salt dating back almost 250 million years making it the oldest known evidence of life on earth.

Earth cellular life evidence dates back to about 4 billion years if I remember correctly. Even some trilobite fossils date to around 530 million years ago. Perhaps they meant "250 million years since the formation of Earth"? Its a trick to make me RTFA to find out what they really meant.

No, not oldest evidence of life

[mck9]

No, these aren't the oldest known signs of life on earth. There are fossils way older than 250 million years. According to the article, this fuzz is the oldest known **biological material** on earth. Not the same thing.

Bad Summary

[algae]

Here on earth, tiny fuzzy fibers have been found in salt dating back almost 250 million years making it the oldest known evidence of life on earth.

What the article actually *says*, is that the fibers themselves are 250 million years old, making them the oldest known biologically-produced material. There's obviously older evidence of life to be found on Earth.

While I'm nitpicking, "Earth" is capitalized, as it is a proper name.

Slug!

[Tablizer]

So my fantasy about pouring salt on a giant Mars Slug to save the astronaut colony still holds hope.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stromatolite

[sofar]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stromatolite

Quote:

"The earliest stromatolite of confirmed microbial origin dates to 2,724 million years ago."

Re:So what else is new? No life on Mars.

[MightyMartian]

If you want cold lifeless desert, go to Death Valley or Arabia or the Gobi. It's much closer. You get the same empty experience, and, most importantly, you don't cost your fellow taxpayers any money.

None of these, of course, are actually lifeless.

Re:that's not the reason...

[ScrewMaster]

To talk about space exploration and ignore real problems is to talk like a thief and a fool. Both of which we have too many of already. Grow up already and enter the real world.

Well, it's a damned good thing the Queen of Spain didn't think like you.