Life On Mars?

Well, who knows, but the UK's tabloid press says there is, so it must be so.

What I find strange is that "The Sun" gives great weight to what NASA thinks, even though the Europeans, monitoring Mars Observer results, were the first to take note of methane, several years ago. So, as far as I'm concerned, the Europeans have bragging rights here, but what they think seems to be unimportant.

Are the Americans signing on to the organic explanation for the presence of methane? Why? Are they announcing previously-unavailable results from the Phoenix expedition? Who knows? Film at 11, I suppose....

(If you see any bear-like creatures emerging from giant metal cylinders, let me know....):

ALIEN microbes living just below the Martian soil are responsible for a haze of methane around the Red Planet, Nasa scientists believe.

The gas, belched in vast quantities in our world by cows, was detected by orbiting spacecraft and from Earth using giant telescopes.

Nasa are today expected to confirm its presence during a briefing at their Washington HQ.

And the find is seen as exciting new evidence that Martian microbes are still alive today.

Some scientists reckon methane is also produced by volcanic processes. But there are NO known active volcanoes on Mars.

Furthermore, Nasa has found the gas in the same regions as clouds of water vapour, the vital “drink” needed to support life.

Experts speculate that the methane is being emitted as a waste product by organisms called methanogens living in water beneath underground ice.