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Giant string of organic molecules discovered on Mars (www.livescience.com)

submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by solo@slrpnk.net to c/astronomy@mander.xyz

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Organic molecules discovered within a stone on Mars cannot be fully explained by nonbiological processes, and it's "reasonable to hypothesize" that living things could have formed these odd organic molecules, a NASA-led team reports in a new study. However, this doesn't mean scientists have found definitive proof of life on Mars, they cautioned.

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[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I... What? No, that's not even close to what the paper concludes.

"We argue that such high concentrations of long-chain alkanes are inconsistent with a few known abiotic sources of organic molecules on ancient Mars, namely delivery of organics by IDPs and meteorites [...]"

They're literally arguing meteorites could not have delivered this concentration of long-chain alkanes.

[–] flandish@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

you know what… i misread “inconsistent.” thanks for the reply!