Studies Show Mars Rock Lifeless
(From the March/April 1998 issue of StarDate magazine)
Two recent studies of a meteorite from Mars contradict earlier claims that it shows evidence of ancient microscopic Martian life. Studies by scientists from Johnson Space Center and Stanford University indicated the meteorite contained organic compounds and possible microscopic fossils. But a team of researchers led by John Bradley of the Georgia Institute of Technology reported that the "microfossils" are really just the fractured surfaces of crystals in the rock. The team said that similar structures have been found in Moon rocks. And the organic compounds found in the rock are Earthly contamination, according to researchers from the University of California-San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
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