Life, the Universe, and Everything
What we know from meteorites. Amino acids existed on Mars. Fossilized forms of life interactions (which are used in ancient Earth life studies) in meteorites resemble those found on Earth.
What we know from landers. Heated samples do not show complex chemistry like amino acids. But there is substantial evidence that heating samples releases perchlorate which breaks down complex compounds.
However, non-heated wet samples have found signs of metabolism (Viking Labeled Release (LR) experiment) and organic molecules (Curiosity wet chemistry experiment - the one that inspired this article).
We are left with a bunch of maybes. Occam's razor cuts both ways depending on your belief in the uniqueness of life on Earth.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
