More life in the universe

Comparing the discovery of signs of life in a meteorite from Mars to the invention of the wheel or electricity dwarfs its importance. With the degree of caution, it can be said that this is the most important scientific discovery since man stood his ground

When Galileo Galilei pointed his telescope to the sky in 1609, he discovered the moons of Jupiter and realized that the Earth is not the center of the universe. Since then, in four hundred years of astronomical research, man has also looked for evidence that planet Earth is not the only place on Earth where life originated. Mars, our closest neighbor and similar to us, has always been a primary target for this search. Its canals, the ice caps at its poles, its changing seasons and its reasonable atmospheric conditions planted in us the hope of discovering life in it, and perhaps even intelligent beings. Later on in the research it turned out, unfortunately, that the Martian "canals" are natural channels and not
The products of civilization, its domes contain dry ice and not water, and its atmosphere is too thin and cold to support superior life in it today. However, in a study fed by telescopic observations and spacecraft data, it was clarified that at the beginning of its days, three to four billion years ago, Mars had flowing water, a condensed atmosphere and comfortable temperatures. From this the scientists concluded that in that distant period chemical processes similar to those that occurred at the beginning of life on Earth could have occurred on Mars. The formation of life is the greatest mystery facing science. Most of us are convinced that it will eventually be possible to explain what happened within the framework of chemistry and physics, but today there is no detailed scenario for the way in which the first living cell was formed. Still, early life scientists are already convinced that life appeared here about 3.5 billion years ago, and that the first life forms were simple bacteria. This, based on tiny fossils and other findings discovered in rocks from that period.

The knowledge gathered about the beginnings of life here, and about the conditions that prevailed on Mars in the corresponding period, raised real hope: that life was created on Mars in a similar way, even if later it was cut short. According to this scenario, traces of creatures may be found in the Martian rocks from which we can also learn a lot about what preceded us here on Earth. But two Viking spacecraft, which landed on Mars in 1976, examined soil samples with the technology available at the time and brought up clay: no clear evidence of life was found. Sending a spacecraft to Mars is a complicated and expensive operation. Following the disappointment of Viking, and the financial crisis in the American space agency, the research was conducted on a small fire. And here, as often happens in science, salvation comes from an unexpected direction: it turns out that there is no need to go to Mars to examine its rocks. Samples from the Martian soil reach us, miraculously, on their own! When an asteroid several kilometers in size, similar to the one that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, hits Mars, chunks of rock are thrown into space by the force of the impact. After wandering randomly for millions of years, one of thousands of such rocks may fall to earth as a meteorite. If some of it safely passes the hot entry into the atmosphere, we are given the opportunity to examine atmospheric rock here on Earth. Researchers in the world have developed an impressive ability to identify meteorites that came from Mars, according to chemical fingerprints and based on Viking data. And so, the meteoric origin of ALH84001, the meteorite discovered in Antarctica 12 years ago, is almost non-existent
Doubtful. Already upon its discovery it was noticed that it was different from many others, but only two and a half years ago was it finally clarified where it came from. Since then, a team of scientists from the Johnson Space Center in Texas and Stanford University in California has done a detailed series of tests. They used the latest technologies and strictly followed the rules of scientific typing. At the end of the research, it was decided to announce the discovery of the first solid evidence for the existence of life outside the earth, and this was done last week. The world was like a concoction: the discovery was announced in a speech to the nation by the President of the United States, and CNN went out of its way and broadcast a one-hour scientific lecture without breaks. Some have compared the discovery to the invention of the wheel or electricity - but such comparisons dwarf its importance. It can be said, with caution, that this is the most important scientific discovery since man made up his mind. The discovery greatly strengthens the opinion that we are not alone in the universe and brings about a huge revolution in our perception of the world. If until now it was highly likely that the formation of life was an extremely rare process, which occurred only once in the history of the universe, now it is much more likely that the universe is teeming with life. It is not impossible that other intelligences also exist, and that contact with them will be possible one day, whether by their visit to us or by a systematic search for their signals transmitted from space.

What did the scientists actually discover? Smaller and younger areas, 4.5 billion years old, were discovered in volcanic rock dating back to the chemical age of Mars and Earth (3.5 billion years) - exactly from the period suitable for the creation of life on Mars. The areas are made of chalk (calcium carbonate), a material that appears frequently, if not always, in the context of life. Near the chalk areas, materials of the same age and a surprising resemblance to by-products or decomposition of earthly bacteria were discovered: special crystals of iron compounds, as well as carbon fragments entangled in compositions that are difficult to explain by geological processes alone. And in close proximity, formations very similar to terrestrial bacterial fossils were also observed with an electron microscope. This is how the various pieces of evidence, each of which can be individually tattooed, are joined into a convincing fabric. The great excitement is clouded by certain doubts arising in the hearts of some scientists regarding the correctness of the reported results. Here it must be emphasized that every scientist knows that his discoveries are always in danger of being refuted or changed - this is the essence of the existence of science. Therefore one must ask, if it is likely that the discovery of extraterrestrial life signals will be able to pass a similar test, and it seems that the answer is positive.

The criticism voiced is from two main directions: the possibility that the structures and materials in the meteorite are of non-living origin, and the possibility that the meteorite was contaminated by terrestrial life. Regarding the first matter, the researchers point out, and rightly so, that the strength of the evidence for life from Mars does not fall short of that of early life findings on Earth, while they reject the second criticism because the signs of life found are more concentrated in the heart of the meteorite than in its shell. Most important to the proper scientific procedure: the research team members announced that they would allow the scientists
independent access to the meteorite, to examine the results and try to disprove them. They even increased their efforts and at the press conference gave a platform to scientists who disagree with them on the interpretation of the results. Thus, it is likely that in the coming year an even more qualified answer will be received, following additional tests of the meteorite and perhaps also based on additional Martian meteorites that will be discovered. The launches to the Red Planet at the end of the year, which were planned a long time ago but are now taking on a new importance, will also be useful in clarifying the matter, even though a remote control test is much less accurate than that in national laboratories. There are still many open questions: Is it possible that there are still living creatures deep in the ground on Mars? Will their biochemistry and genetics be similar to ours or vastly different? The mother, similar to the way fossils came to us, could also come
The spores of living creatures and "colonize" the earth, a process known as pan-spermia? And will the existence of two independent examples of the phenomenon of life help to crack the secret of their beginning?

Deciphering the beginning of life on Earth and Mars is not one of the studies that brings immediate material benefit to humanity. But the depth of the questions it represents is immeasurably greater. The signs of life in a meteorite from Mars were discovered by dedicated researchers, who ignored passing fads and the pressure to prove the immediate applicability of their research. It is hoped that the historical breakthrough they achieved will bring about a change in the atmosphere in the US as well as in Israel, and will give new strength to basic research - the answer to man's deep need to understand himself and the universe in which he lives.