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Scientists believe that the components for life have been present on Mars for millions of years.The revelation has come from new data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Express spacecrafts pertaining to materials present within a large crater on the planet"s surface. Rocks and materials thrown up by the impact appear to contain minerals that are believed to have been affected by water, a discovery that suggests life couldhave existed below the Martian surface.""All the ingredients were there for life, but only small single-cell organisms could have survived in those conditions," said study lead author Dr Joseph Michalski.

"But I would now be more surprised if there was never any life on Mars, than I would be if we did one day discover that simple life lived in that environment." Research published in the journal "Nature Geoscience" suggests that the components required to sustain simplemicroorganisms could have been present on Mars for much of its history.  

View: Full article |  Source: Independent  

The astrobiologist has claimed that fossil diatoms found in a meteorite are proof of alien life.Chandra Wickramasinghe is director of the Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology at the University of Buckingham and along with astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle developed the concept of "panspermia", the theory that life is distributed throughout the cosmos on asteroids, comets and other bodies. In this case his team is said to have discovered tiny fossils inside a carbonaceous meteoritethat represent evidence of extraterrestrial life.The claim inevitably sounds too good to be true and that"s because some of Wickramasinghe"s previous claims have been highly controversial.

"Wickramasinghe jumps on everything, with little or no evidence, and says it"s from outer space, so I think there"s a case to be made for a bias on his part," said astronomer Phil Plait. To date his claims of alien fossils within the meteorite have yet to independently corroborated. If a group of scientists are correct, tinyfossils uncovered inside a meteorite found in Sri Lanka in December are proof of extraterrestrial life.  

View: Full article |  Source: Huffington Post  

One of Antarctica"s largest penguin colonies has been discovered through the use of satellite imagery.British Antarctic Survey scientists made contact with the 9,000 strong colony in December after satellite images revealed signs of the birds through their excrement which stood out against the white snow on the ground. When the team arrived they discovered that most of the penguinswere chicks and that the birds were inquisitive about their new visitors."After ten minutes, penguins come out of the water to look at who you are and what you are doing," said expedition leader Alain Hubert.

"You can approach them, when you talk to them, it"s like they are listening to you." One of the largest emperor penguin colonies in Antarctica was discovered last month by a team from the International Polar Foundation"sPrincess Elisabeth station.  

View: Full article |  Source: National Geographic  

The park is being promoted as a place from which visitors will have a chance to glimpse the creature.Complete with a hotel and a themed children"s playground, the Yeti resort will be located in the Shoria Mountain area of Siberia"s Kemerovo region. Critics have argued that the project is little more than a crude attempt to bring in tourists and that there is next to no chance of actually seeing a Yeti while staying at the resort. Nonetheless, the number of sightings reported in the region is likely to attract a lotof visitors.The Kemerovo region has been in the news a lot lately with regard to expeditions seeking evidence of the elusive creature.

Remote caves are said to have yielded tantalizing clues such as unidentifiable hair samples but so far nothing conclusive has been found.Local governor Aman Tuleyev has pledged to award one million rouble to anyone who can prove the creature"s existence. "I"ll pay a million to anyone who will find the Yeti and bring it to see me. I"ll sit down with him, chat and have a cup of tea," he said. The development is in an area of theworld that claims to have one of the highest number of sightings of a legendary creature also known as Bigfoot.  

View: Full article |  Source: Siberian Times