As it's the foundation for all life on Earth, discovering carbon on other planets always gets scientists excited – and the Curiosity Rover on Mars has found an unusual mix of the chemical element that could hypothetically point to the existence of
As it's the foundation for all life on Earth, discovering carbon on other planets always gets scientists excited – and the Curiosity Rover on
"The amounts of carbon 12 and carbon 13 in our Solar System are the amounts that existed at the formation of the Solar System,""Both exist in everything, but because carbon 12 reacts more quickly than carbon 13, looking at the relative amounts of each in samples can reveal the carbon cycle."One explanation for the carbon signatures is a giant, molecular cloud of dust.
"The samples extremely depleted in carbon 13 are a little like samples from Australia taken from sediment that was 2.7 billion years old,""Those samples were caused by biological activity when methane was consumed by ancient microbial mats, but we can't necessarily say that on Mars because it's a planet that may have formed out of different materials and processes than Earth.
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