the mystery of mArtiAn meteorites’ orGAnic moLecULes
6. Read the text and decide if the statements below are true or false.
Organic molecules are the carbon-based raw materials at the basis of proteins and DNA. These organic compounds have been detected in meteorites from Mars that have crashed into the Earth. Scientists have debated about their origin – they might be the evidence of life on the Red Planet or simply contaminants that got into the rocks after they landed.
To help solve the mystery, researchers analysed eleven Martian meteorites, including the Tissint meteorite that fell into the Moroccan desert in 2011. The investigators now reveal that organic molecules within these meteorites did originate on Mars.
Andrew Steele, microbiologist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington said: “Mars apparently has had organic carbon chemistry for a long time; however, these organic molecules do not appear biological in origin, they formed from volcanic processes. Ten of the analysed meteorites possessed complex hydrocarbons enclosed within grains of crystallized minerals that formed within cooling magma. When the minerals crystallized from the magma, they trapped carbon in them and over time, organic compounds formed within these mineral ‘bottles’.”
The controversial point is that tectonic processes that cause such geological activity are peculiar to Earth – “Mars does not have tectonics,” Steele said.
So, what other activity might have taken place on Mars after such organic molecules formed?
“We are now discovering that Mars has organic chemistry, and on Earth, organic chemistry led to life, so what is the purpose of this material on Mars, the raw material from which the building blocks of life are formed?” he wondered.
Now that scientists have a better picture of the foundations of Martian chemistry, they can look for anomalies that might be signs of life with missions to the Red Planet.
“We’ll see if there are hints that Mars is not a dead planet,” Steele said.
Adapted from: https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna47556558
1. There has never been any doubt about the fact that the organic molecules within the meteorites from Mars formed on the planet.
☐ T ☐ F
2. Eleven meteorites have been analysed since 2011.
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3. There used to be volcanoes on Mars.
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4. The organic molecules within the meteorites have geological origins.
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5. Most of the analysed meteorites contained evidence of carbon in them.
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6. Martian solid surface movements are similar to the ones on the Earth.
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7. Andrew Steele is certain that organic chemistry is the chemistry of life on both the Earth and Mars.
☐ T ☐ F
8. Future missions to Mars may reveal amazing things.
☐ T ☐ F
GLOSSARY
anomaly: unusual characteristic
contaminant: impurity
to debate: to discuss
grain: tiny piece
hint: sign
peculiar: specific
trapped: imprisoned
within: inside
