Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Is there life on Mars? Aberdeen scientists seem to think so…

Post Thumbnail

Scientists at Aberdeen University believe they have discovered more evidence to suggest there is life on Mars.

As preparations continue at NASA for a mission to Mars in 2018, researchers studying rocks on Barra and the Uists have shown that hydrogen – which is essential for life – is formed by earthquakes.

On Mars there are ‘Marsquakes’ which may produce hydrogen in the same way.

The study, which has been published in the journal Astrobiology, was carried out by scientists from Aberdeen University and colleagues at Yale University and Brock University.

Professor John Parnell, from the school of geo-science, said: “Earthquakes cause friction, and our analysis of ancient rock in the Outer Hebrides has demonstrated how this creates hydrogen.

Professor John Parnell
Professor John Parnell

“Hydrogen is a fuel for simple microbes, so microbes could live off hydrogen created in the earth’s subsurface as a result of seismic activity.

“This is a model that could apply to any other rocky planet, and on Mars there are so called marsquakes that may produce hydrogen and therefore could feed life in the Martian sub-surface.

“Our analysis finds that conservative estimates of current seismic activity on Mars predict hydrogen generation that would be useful to microbes, which adds strength to the possibility of suitable habitats that could support life in the Martian sub-surface.”

NASA’s mission to Mars is expected to launch in May 2018, with the landing scheduled for the end of November the same year.

Prof Parnell added: “NASA has plans to measure seismic activity on Mars during its 2018 inSight mission, and our data will make those measurements all the more interesting.”

Acting associate administrator for NASA’s science misson directorate, Geoff Yoder said: “Our robotic scientific explorers such as InSight are paving the way toward an ambitious journey to send humans to the red planet.”

NASA’s primary goal of InSight is to “understand how rocky planets formed and evolved.”