The use of iron isotopes may also have applications when studying potential evidence for life on other planets. The ability of microbes to utilize iron in their metabolisms makes it possible for organisms to survive in anoxic, iron-rich environments, such as Mars. Thus, the continual improvement of knowledge regarding the biological fractionations of iron observed on Earth can have applications when studying extraterrestrial samples in the future. While this field of research is still developing, this could provide evidence regarding whether a sample was generated as a result of biologic or abiologic processes depending on the isotopic fractionation. For example, it has been hypothesized that magnetite crystals found in Martian meteorites may have formed biologically as a result of their striking similarity to magnetite crystals produced by magnetotactic bacteria on Earth. Iron isotopes could be used to study the origin of the proposed "magnetofossils" and other rock formations on Mars.