WASHINGTON – Are we all Martians?
The question isn’t new.
For decades some scientists have believed hearty bacteria that originated on Mars was transported to Earth on a meteorite.
New research has been unveiled at the 2013 Goldschmidt Conference in Italy that seems to support the belief.
“The evidence seems to be building that we are actually all Martians: that life started on Mars and came to Earth on a rock,” said Dr. Steven Benner of the Westheimer Institute for Science and Technology in a statement before the recent geochemistry convention.
Benner says the oxidized mineral form of the element molybdenum couldn’t have been available on Earth at the time life first began, because three billion years ago the surface of Earth had little oxygen, but Mars had enough oxygen.
While Benner’s theory is unproven, NASA’s 2016 Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport plans intends to “investigate the planet’s earliest evolution – its building blocks – which can only be found by looking far below the surface”
(h/t) Huffington Post
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