I liked the television show, but I'd like this even more:
ALIEN microbes living just below the Martian soil are responsible for a haze of methane around the Red Planet, Nasa scientists believe.
The gas, belched in vast quantities in our world by cows, was detected by orbiting spacecraft and from Earth using giant telescopes.
Nasa are today expected to confirm its presence during a briefing at their Washington HQ.
And the find is seen as exciting new evidence that Martian microbes are still alive today.
Some scientists reckon methane is also produced by volcanic processes. But there are NO known active volcanoes on Mars.
Furthermore, Nasa has found the gas in the same regions as clouds of water vapour, the vital "drink" needed to support life.
Experts speculate that the methane is being emitted as a waste product by organisms called methanogens living in water beneath underground ice.
And they would have to be alive today because the methane would otherwise have been lost from the Martian atmosphere.
John Murray — a member of the Mars Express European space probe team — believes the mini-Martians may be in a form of suspended animation and could even be REVIVED.
He has found overwhelming evidence of a vast frozen ocean beneath the dust near the Martian equator where simple life could have thrived as microbes.
Today's briefing will feature a star panel of Mars experts headed by Michael Meyer, chief scientist for Nasa's Mars programme.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2133475.ece
