A self-portrait taken by NASA's Curiosity rover in the Gale Crater. A reminder: Organic molecules aren't necessarily produced by organisms; they're just chemical compounds that contain carbon. But that explanation, too, suggests a provocative possibility; even if the organic molecules didn't come from life, they are exactly what life likes to eat. Some of our planet's earliest organisms may have been methanogens — microbes that eat organic molecules and exhale methane gas. By examining data spanning nearly three Martian years (six Earth years), Webster and his colleagues discerned the first repeating pattern in Martian methane.

Source: Washington Post June 07, 2018 18:01 UTC