Finally, an answer to the question: Is there life on Mars?

The effectiveness of the nanoantibiotic was assessed using two different strains of Escherichia coli, a bacterium that normally inhabits the gut flora of mammals and that can cause food poisoning in certain situations. Photo: AFP

Scientists with NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover mission have found that Gale Crater had the right physical and chemical conditions for life for 700 million years – and for part of that history, held a lake that could have hosted a wide variety of microbial life.

The findings, published recently in the journal Science, document a long-lasting Martian environment that had the potential to host a wide variety of living things.