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[Maddad]

Man, I sure hope so. It's looking very good. Water ice found. Methane found near the equator, which is where the strongest sunlight is. Methan signature found to be especially strong in the Valles Marineris where the atmosphere would be densest anywhere on Mars. And it's seasonal. It's getting harder and harder for abiotic process to do the job.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Extreme Life in Yellowstone Gives More Hope for Life on Mars

Another tidbit for the pile...

(Apr 21, 2005) Researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder have uncovered a group of bacteria living in an extreme environment in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. The hardy microbes were discovered living inside rocks near geothermal vents, and are regularly subjected to an acidic environment with high levels of metals and silicates and very high temperatures. These microbes can end up as fossils, so scientists can see how they've changed over time, and they can learn additional signs to look for life on Mars.

Scientists believe similar kinds of geothermal environments may once have existed on Mars, where astrobiologists have intensified the search for past and present life forms in recent years.

More here from Universe today: www.universetoday.com/am/publish/extreme_life_yellowstone.html?2142005

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Once life gets a hold someplace, it grabs on for dear life and adapts to changing environments. I think that Mars life went underground, following the water and heat.

One day we will know.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

NASA Scientist: 'Mars Could be Biologically Alive'

BOULDER, Colorado – Evidence for intense local enhancements in methane on Mars has been bolstered by ground-based observations. The methane, as well as water on Mars, was detected using state-of-the-art infrared spectrometers stationed atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii and in Cerro Pachón, Chile.

Scientific teams around the globe are on the trail of methane seeping out of Mars. And for good reason: The methane could be the result of biological processes. It could also be an "abiotic" geochemical process, however, or the result of volcanic or hydrothermal activity on the red planet.

Many types of microbes here on Earth produce a signature of methane. Indeed, the tiny fraction of atmospheric carbon found as methane on our planet is churned out almost entirely biologically with only a very small contribution from abiotic processes, scientists say.

More here from Space.com: www.space.com/scienceastronomy/050419_mars_methane.html

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I find microbe flatulence very facinating... ;D