METHANE has been detected on Mars by three independent groups of scientists. One team is even claiming that the most likely source of the methane is bacteria, making this discovery the strongest signal yet of possible life on Mars.
On Earth almost all of the methane in the atmosphere comes from bacteria that digest organic matter and produce the gas as a by-product. Fossil methane also seeps out of oil and gas deposits through vents and fissures. The only known way of forming the gas inorganically is in volcanoes and geothermal reservoirs. But spacecraft orbiting the planet have found no…
