Early Mars may have had right conditions for RNA to start life

摘要

IT IS possible that life started on Mars billions of years ago in certain regions where conditions were unusually hospitable. If life ever existed on Mars, it is conceivable that it began with RNA, which is similar to the DNA that carries our genes. Many scientists suspect that RNA played a key role in life's beginnings on Earth, and some even argue that the first life was based solely on RNA. To see if that could have played out on Mars, Angel Mojarro at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his colleagues simulated the early environment of Mars. Its current frigid climate allows for little liquid water, but there is evidence that Mars had running water billions of years ago.