Reminds me of the Gamma Forest at Brookhaven National Labs. From 1961 thru 1978 they irradiated a section of the pine barrens forest with a cesium-137 source just to see what would happen. It sterilized the soil and hardly anything grows there, almost 50 years later.
replyhttps://maps.app.goo.gl/pJYr6qiZnMdVwLJS6
I'm guessing the distinct lack of Google Streetview on that circular bit of road nearby and the tracks implies a certain amount of resistance to access if you get off that dual carriageway to the west?
replyThis is huge news if true for evaluating soil experiments on Mars. They could give false positives for life if they only look for metabolic products.
replyNot as much as you might think.
replyWe've found amino acids almost everywhere we look, including astroids [1].
It seems that the building blocks of life pretty naturally and readily form. Which is a pretty strong indicator that life is likely fairly common outside earth.
[1] https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasas-asteroid-bennu-sampl...
Obligatory Asimov: 'The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not "Eureka!" but 'That's funny...”'
replyIt feels next would be trying isolate the component that make CO2.
Try to use smaller sample. Put them under microscope, etc.
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