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Remembering ALH84001

Ten years ago a lump of rock was billed as proof of life on Mars.

Do you remember the fuss surrounding ALH84001? That was the name of a meteorite, found in Antarctica, that was formed on Mars 4.5 billion years ago . It made the headlines a decade ago, when it was suggested that certain microscopic features present in this lump of rock were evidence of ancient martian bacteria.

I remember the day quite well. Back then, unlike now, journals weren't in the habit of publishing their papers online ahead of print, but the fuss surrounding what was billed as the discovery of extraterrestrial life made for an exception. My colleagues and I downloaded the paper and pored over it in between experiments.

Sadly, that downloaded document did not contain ET's fingerprint or social security number, and the conclusions were greeted with a whimper, rather than a bang. We weren't alone. The results were debated amongst the scientific community, and each feature that was touted as proof of extraterrestrial life seemed to have more logical natural explanations. As my colleague Dr Timmer pointed out this morning, "it's a good example of how science evaluates things and reaches a consensus."

CNN has gone back and spoken to the researchers involved in the original paper, and it seems that the authors of the article, published in Science, still stand by their work, even if no one else will:

"We certainly have not convinced the community, and that's been a little bit disappointing," said David McKay, a NASA biochemist and leader of the team that started the scientific episode.

But even though the majority of his colleagues don't buy his "life on Mars" theory -- McKay's own brother, also a NASA scientist, is one of his most prominent critics -- many say they respect him and greatly appreciate his efforts.

Still, even if the cracks and crevices were caused by natural phenomena, thinking about the journey the little lump of Mars must have had—to have been part of our solar neighbor back when life on earth wasn't even a twinkle in the celestial milkman's eye, to its discovery in the 1980s in Antarctica—ALH84001 is a pretty interesting lump of rock.

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Channel Ars Technica