Welcome!

The Internet is a tremendous resource for biologists whether they are third graders or Nobel laureates. This page is designed to challenge college students to discover more about interesting topics in biology that have been reported in the news media by exploring the Internet. New topics will be presented every quarter. Students can send their answers to the Quest to WCB/McGraw-Hill along with comments.

Internet Biology Quest for December 1996

Life on Mars! Evidence has been reported by David McKay and eight other authors in the journal SCIENCE (16 August 1996) that indicates life has existed on Mars. The evidence came from analyses made on a meteor that came from Mars and was discovered in the Antarctic. There were three discoveries made about the meteor that indicates life existed on the meteor when it was on Mars millions of years ago.

Did you know that this is not the first time experiments have indicated that there is life on Mars? In fact, some experiments were done many years ago to detect life directly on the surface of Mars, and these experiments positively indicated that there is (not was) life on Mars! As you might imagine, there was a great deal of renewed interest and scientific discussion about the interpretation of these results.

On the Internet there are web sites that can provide information to help you arrive at the answers to these questions. You can use the hot links in the discussion above to find information related to the highlighted text.

1. What are the three pieces of evidence from the meteor that life existed on Mars?
2. Which one of the three results from the meteor is the strongest scientifically?
3. For whom do the authors of the article in SCIENCE work?
4. When and what were the missions that went to Mars years ago to look for life on Mars?
5. What characteristics of living organisms were detected by the experiments that flew to Mars?
6. How were the results of the experiments done on Mars observed by scientists on earth?
7. Now that you know about the studies that indicate life on Mars, which one do you think is most reliable?
8. Finally, let us assume there is life on Mars. Do you think finding life on Mars will change the theories on the origins of life on the Earth?

E-mail your answers and comments to us!