Giant string of organic molecules on Mars may be one of the best signs of life yet
www.livescience.com
A new NASA analysis concludes that it is "reasonable to hypothesize" that living things could have formed the odd organic molecules discovered on Mars.

Organic molecules discovered within a stone on Mars cannot be fully explained by nonbiological processes, and it’s “reasonable to hypothesize” that living things could have formed these odd organic molecules, a NASA-led team reports in a new study. However, this doesn’t mean scientists have found definitive proof of life on Mars, they cautioned.

    • TheTechnician27@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      11 days ago

      I… What? No, that’s not even close to what the paper concludes.

      “We argue that such high concentrations of long-chain alkanes are inconsistent with a few known abiotic sources of organic molecules on ancient Mars, namely delivery of organics by IDPs and meteorites […]”

      They’re literally arguing meteorites could not have delivered this concentration of long-chain alkanes.