[NormsRevenge]

Caption for pics in #2

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Top NASA scientists engaged in the search for life on other planets are studying these coral like formations called stromatolites in the Poza Azul lake at Cuatro Cienegas, Mexico, March 10, 2005. The live coral-like formations are akin to ancient colonies of calcified bacteria that first emerged on earth 3.7 billion years ago and dominated life on earth for more than two billion years.

The team of astrobiologists are measuring their gas emissions to help them decode the atmospheric signature of planets around nearby stars using a specially adapted telescope to be launched in 2014. Picture taken March 10, 2005. REUTERS/Henry Romero/FEATURE/SPACE-MEXICO

[battlecry]

Sounds like a warm vacation, I mean, a serious research project.

[Wiseghy]

Something tells me that the NASA folks were a tad disappointed that they didn't find any fossilized smoking guns like this on Mars--though they also knew that that was probably hoping for too much.

In any case, I look forward to 2014 when we can get a better look at the other planets and start to catalog them by type. It should take a lot of unknowns out of calculating the probabilities.