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/Open linkView original on lemmy.cahttps://daily.jstor.org/we-might-have-accidentally-killed-the-only-life-we-ever-found-on-mars/Open linkView original on lemmy.ca
Worth noting the article argues we killed life on Mars inside of a sample taken, NOT all life on Mars.
great article, but the clickbait title is clearly intended to be misleading
A very important distinction.
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.