A pair of NASA scientists told a group of space officials at a private meeting here Sunday that they have found strong evidence that life may exist today on Mars, hidden away in caves and sustained by pockets of water. —Brian Berger —Exclusive: NASA Researchers Claim Evidence of Present Life on Mars (Space News)
The link is very slow… I gather it’s getting a lot of attention. The evidence is all indirect, so let’s not get too carried away. To his credit, reporter Brian Berger notes in the second paragraph that the paper describing the findings has not yet been peer reviewed. The article does mention that “many researchers” doubt earlier claims about microbial life, but it doesn’t offer quotations from any naysayers.
For now, I’ll file this under “science fiction”. Whatever the result, NASA will file it under “great PR.”
Eric, it seems Phil Plait of Bad Astronomy has blown the loosely-sealed lid off this one.
I remember a few years ago some scientists found “proof” (refuted now I guess) of life on Mars in meteorites. But in the checkout at the grocery yesterday I noticed one of the fine tabloids had headlines something like Weird Alien Cats found on Titan and by golly they had the photo to prove it!