Fossils Found on Mars?

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Michael Watson

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Message 1911171 - Posted: 6 Jan 2018, 18:02:54 UTC
Last modified: 6 Jan 2018, 18:22:41 UTC

The Curiosity rover, currently at Vera Rubin Ridge on Mars, has run across some intriguing tiny shapes. One astrobiologist has noted that these look remarkably like Ordovician Era fossils he has studied on Earth.

The rover had already moved past the site, but was sent back to it again, when the strange mineralized shapes were noticed in the images it secured there. Given what we think we know about conditions on Mars in the remote past, worm-like organisms don't seem too much to expect.

The rover will make chemical tests to try to determine if the mysterious objects could actually be fossils. Please find a link below to an article on this find, containing more details, and images of the maybe fossils.

https://www.space.com/39294-mars-rover-curiosity-weird-tube-structures.html
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Profile Gordon Lowe
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Message 1911318 - Posted: 6 Jan 2018, 23:32:28 UTC - in response to Message 1911171.  

There's an intriguing looking tubular formation that appears to have a rough texture in the upper left hand corner of that picture.
The mind is a weird and mysterious place
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Profile Bob DeWoody
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Message 1911429 - Posted: 7 Jan 2018, 6:08:36 UTC

So, if there is still any form of life still active on Mars will we still go there in person?
Bob DeWoody

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Michael Watson

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Message 1911590 - Posted: 7 Jan 2018, 19:55:41 UTC

Many of the odd shapes atop the Martian rocks appear rounded in cross-section. Would crystal veins in rocks, or cracks in rocks later filled with other minerals, appear tubular like this? It seems more likely that they would be more or less random in shape. Rounded, tubular objects seem to hint at the presence of simple forms of life. This appears to be what some biologists are (very carefully) suggesting.
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Message boards : SETI@home Science : Fossils Found on Mars?


 
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