Freak desert shower on Earth reveals there could be life on Mars after all

A FREAK shower in the world’s driest desert has surprised scientists by waking up sleeping microbes – and at the same time increased the chances of finding life on Mars.

The US team discovered incredibly hardy bacteria that can lie dormant in the soil for decades without a hint of water.

When it unexpectedly rained in their habitat, the most arid corner of South America’s Atacama desert, they bounced back into life.

Planetary scientist Dr Dirk Schulze-Makuch, from Washington State University, said: “It has always fascinated me to go to the places where people don’t think anything could possibly survive and discover that life has somehow found a way to make it work.

references aside, our research tell us that if life can persist in Earth’s driest environment there is a good chance it could be hanging in there on Mars in a similar fashion.”

The researchers took soil samples from six different locations in the Atacama desert between 2015 and 2017.

Microbes had been found in the desert before, but it was not clear if they were original residents or dying vestiges of life blown in by the wind. The answer came after an extremely rare rain shower triggered an explosion of biological activity.

Genetic tests revealed several indigenous species of bacteria that had adapted to live in the harsh environment.

A return trip to the Atacama in 2016 and 2017 revealed that the same bugs were gradually reverting to a dormant state as the soil around them dried up.