Two researchers from the University of Queensland (UQ) have confirmed that life existed on Mars. They first looked at magnetic crystals found in mud samples from a water trap of an Australian golf course. UQ News Online reports that they found their proof by comparing these crystals with those contained in a meteorite discovered in Antartica in 1984.
Let's start with a picture of this meteorite, named ALH84001 (Credit: NASA).
Now, let's go back to the story.
In 1996 NASA announced it had found primitive bacteria in that meteorite and since then debate has raged in the scientific community whether the organism were from Mars.
Dr Taylor, together with his PhD co-supervisor Dr Barry, examined the mud samples using a world-first breakthrough in electron microscopy and found the fossil bacteria and the new samples were identical.
"Tony developed a new technique to capture specimens for the electron microscope which allowed us to see through the bacteria and into the gel surrounding the magnetic crystals inside the bacterium," Dr Barry said.
After using this new technique, they are now certain that life existed on Mars.
"Our research shows that the structures found in the NASA meteorite were more than likely made by bacteria present on Mars four billion years ago, before life even started on Earth," said Dr Taylor.
"We became very excited when we discovered that many of the bacteria found had the same biosignature, which resembles a tiny backbone surrounded by cartilage, as that of the Martian fossils,” Dr Taylor said.
Apparently, they were not the only ones exxcited by this discovery.
Emeritus Professor Imre Friedmann, one of the original NASA scientists to make the life on Mars claim said he was thrilled by the news.
"The Study of Taylor and Barry now presents evidence that the same features occur in a wide range of bacteria that live on Earth today. The tiny structures, chains of crystals of the mineral magnetite, are comparable to animal skeletons on a microscopic scale," Professor Friedmann said.
For more information about the work from the University of Queensland researchers, the results have been published by the Journal of Microscopy (February 2004, Volume 213, Issue 2, Page 180). You can read the abstract called "Magnetosomal matrix: ultrafine structure may template biomineralization of magnetosomes."
And for more information about the ALH84001 meteorite, you can read this long technical report available from NASA (PDF format, 1.8 MB, 22 pages).
Sources: University of Queensland News Online, February 2, 2004; and various websites
1:18:37 PM
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