“Is there life on Mars?”, David Bowie once sung. Well, maybe, with new evidence from the NASA’s Curiosity rover possibly pointing that way. A paper published in the journal Science notes that the Rover has found a variety of organic molecules in rocks that might be as old as 3.5 billion years. These organic molecules can be seen as the building blocks of life.

As reported on Space.com, don’t get excited just yet. Study lead author, Jennifer Eigenbrode at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, puts a damper on the celebrations by stating, "These results do not give us any evidence of life." She continues, "But there is a possibility that [the organics] are from an ancient life source; we just don't know".

Another paper published in Science states that the methane present in Mars’ atmosphere varies seasonally. While methane on Earth is mostly produced by living organisms, this might not be the case on Mars, with NASA noting it might have been produced by water-rock chemistry. NASA did state, however, that the biological origin of the methane cannot be ruled out. Methane levels peaked during ‘summer’ months, while dropping in colder ‘winter’ months.

With NASA’s response to the above evidence of the possibility of life on Mars, is there a better time than now to quote the great philosopher Lloyd Christmas: “So you're telling me there's a chance?”

IMAGE: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS