New study of 1980s Mars meteorite debunks proof of ancient life on planet

Scientists who were part of original 1996 study stand by their observations claiming new findings are ‘disappointing’

A four billion-year-old meteorite from Mars that caused a splash here on Earth decades ago contains no evidence of ancient, primitive Martian life after all, scientists have said.

In 1996, a Nasa-led team announced that organic compounds in the rock appeared to have been left by living creatures. Other scientists were skeptical and researchers chipped away at that premise over the decades, most recently by a team led by the Carnegie Institution for Science’s Andrew Steele.