After 10 years, life-on-Mars rebuked

Space & Earth science / Space Exploration

The meteorite labeled ALH84001 sits under a microscope at a Johnson Space Center lab in Houston,in this Aug. 7, 1996 file photo. Researchers at NASA and three universities claimed to have found in the rock from Mars organic compounds they said were deposited by primitive life forms before the meteorite was blasted into space and sent on a 15 million-year voyage to Earth. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

(AP) -- It was a science fiction fantasy come true: Ten years ago this summer, NASA announced the discovery of life on Mars. At a Washington, D.C., news conference, scientists showed magnified pictures of a four-pound Martian meteorite riddled with wormy blobs that looked like bacterial colonies. The researchers explained how they had pried numerous clues from the rock, all strongly supporting their contention that microscopic creatures once occupied its nooks and crannies.

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