Recently in the news, a sexily named scientist by the moniker Dirk Schulze-Makuch has begun to attract the interest of a National Research Council panel (self-nicknamed the "Weird Life" council) with his theory that there may have been, and may still be, hydrogen-peroxide life existing on Mars. In a word: COOL!
Back in the 1970's, when the US-launched "Viking" missions landed probes on Mars, its directive was to seek out Earthlike life, in which saltwater would be an internal key component of cellular structure. However, with Mars' cold, dry atmosphere, the existence of a water and hydroden-peroxide cellular organism would be a much more likely candidate, since this structure stays liquid even at very low temperatures, doesn't destroy cells when it freezes, and can gather water vapor out of the thin atmosphere there. If this is true, the Viking probe would've destroyed any such life it came in contact with of this nature by its pre-programmed responses to both flood areas of land with water, and to bake the land with overheating.
Based on this new theory, NASA might begin a new search for a different form of life when the new "Phoenix" mission to Mars launches this summer.
So, the only question that remains now is: How big will the microbes' Ray Gun be, and will they be benevolent Overlords, or shall we break under the iron boot of our new-found minuscule rulers? Oh, the humanity!
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