microfossils

Another unanswered question is whether the microfossils were the result of contamination by Earthly bacteria.

Home | Mail Online 2009

The discovery strengthens the case for believing that worm-like structures in the meteorite are 'microfossils' of ancient Martian bugs.

Home | Mail Online 2009

It is quite a wild microbial zoo: Some of the microfossils are rod-shaped, some spherical, some sluglike, some almost slithery.

First Contact Marc Kaufman 2011

Hoover says he routinely goes back to re-study individual microfossils; others say it is often impossible.

First Contact Marc Kaufman 2011

Both have the same or similar microfossils, although the potentially contaminating microbes in the two locales where they fell are obviously very different.

First Contact Marc Kaufman 2011

But Hoover had also measured the ratio of carbon to nitrogen in the microfossils and found that it was extremely high.

First Contact Marc Kaufman 2011

“Chiral biomarkers and microfossils in carbonaceous meteorites.”

First Contact Marc Kaufman 2011

Now we know Mars had a magnetic field—necessary to hold a protecting atmosphere—and of course there are the meteorites that just might have Martian microfossils in them.

First Contact Marc Kaufman 2011

The answer involves some complicated history as well, because claims of microfossils in carbonaceous meteorites are not new.

First Contact Marc Kaufman 2011

Hoover can identify sheaths of fossilized carbon filled in by the minerals of the extraterrestrial rock, and show with graphs that the presumed microfossils contain higher levels of the carbon required for life than the surrounding rocks.

First Contact Marc Kaufman 2011