While the ongoing quest to detect life on Mars continues, NASA‘s plan to retrieve samples from the planet is set to conclude in the early next decade. However, one scientist proposes an intriguing notion: that we potentially encountered life on the Red Planet nearly five decades ago, an encounter that may have ended tragically.
Before the Curiosity rover’s historic journey, two preceding landers played a vital role. NASA’s Viking program, launched in 1975, not only offered the first glimpses of Mars’ landscape but also performed biological analyses of its soil, with the primary aim of unearthing indications of life.
A paradigm shift
The data from these probes prompted a paradigm shift among Earth’s scientific community regarding the presence of water on Mars. The explorations unveiled numerous geological formations consistent with the effects of substantial water flows. Vast river channels were revealed in various regions, and evidence emerged of catastrophic water surges that breached dams, carved extensive valleys, gouged rock formations, and traversed thousands of kilometers. Extensive networks of branching channels and streams were prevalent across the southern hemisphere, underscoring the likelihood of past rainfall on Mars. Notably, the slopes of Martian volcanoes bore resemblances to those in Hawaii, hinting at their prior exposure to rain. Certain craters even displayed characteristics akin to impacts on muddy terrain.
The experiments
Nevertheless, a series of experiments yielded perplexing outcomes that confounded scientists. The landers conducted three distinct experiments. The first produced affirmative results hinting at metabolic processes. However, the adverse effects of the subsequent two experiments, which failed to detect organic substances, led researchers to speculate that the initial positive result might have been due to non-biological chemical reactions. In simpler terms, the first experiment detected traces of organic materials combined with chlorine, likely contaminants inadvertently transported from Earth.
Another aspect of the experiment involved introducing water infused with nutrients and radioactive carbon (carbon-14) to the Martian soil. The hypothesis was that potential microorganisms on Mars would consume the nutrients and release radioactive carbon as a gas. Although the initial experiment indicated this radioactive gas’s emission (absent in a control experiment), the remaining results remained inconclusive. According to an explanation on the scientific platform “iflscience,” the presence of bacteria should have resulted in increased gas production with additional nutrient injections and prolonged incubation. However, successive injections failed to trigger more gas emissions. The likely culprit for the initial positive reading was perchlorate, a compound utilized in rocket fuel, which could have altered nutrient processing.
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The other theory
Yet, an alternative theory exists. Professor Dirk Schulz-McKoch, an authority on planetary habitation and astrobiology at the Technical University of Berlin, posits that including water in the experiment might have been an oversight, potentially leading to the demise of the very bacteria being sought.
In a June publication in BigThink magazine, he cites Earth-based life thriving in extreme environments, such as bacteria within salt rocks that draw moisture from the air. Submerging these bacteria in water could prove fatal, potentially explaining the absence of radioactive gas detection despite additional nutrient injections. Prof. Schultz-McKoch had previously proposed the possibility of Martian life containing hydrogen peroxide within their cells. In a 2007 study, he outlined the advantages of such a configuration for Martian life, including a low freezing point, a source of oxygen, and hygroscopicity.
He suggests, “If we consider the hypothesis that Martian life evolved to incorporate hydrogen peroxide into its cells, it could elucidate the outcomes of the Viking program’s experiments.” He adds, amusingly, that the gas chromatograph mass spectrometer subjected samples to heating before analysis. “If Martian cells contained hydrogen peroxide, this could have proven fatal. Additionally, it might have triggered a reaction between the hydrogen peroxide and organic molecules, generating substantial carbon dioxide—precisely what the device detected.”
Although speculative, this notion posits that humanity possibly encountered life on Mars nearly five decades ago, inadvertently terminating it shortly after the discovery.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
