美科学家称火星上可能存在生命

爱思英语编者按：目前，科学家经研究发现，位于火星上的尼利•福萨远古岩石群中可能包含着火星远古神秘生物的化石(fossil)。专家指出，地球上保存最早生命迹象的过程也可能在火星上发生。看来，遥远的火星并非之前人们所认为的那样贫瘠干旱、没有生命存在迹象。

 研究者们发现，火星岩石中可能包含着早期火星远古生命的化石残骸。

Researchers have discovered rocks that could contain the fossilised remains of ancient life on early Mars.

该研究小组在火星表面的尼利•福萨远古岩石群中获得这一发现。他们表示该地区的岩石十分接近于澳大利亚西北部皮尔巴拉地区的岩石，这些岩石中保存着地球早期生命存在的证据。
The team made their discovery in the ancient rocks of Nili Fossae on the planet’s surface, which they say are almost identical to rocks in the Pilbara region of north-west Australia where some of the earliest evidence of life on Earth has been preserved.

该发现意味着约40亿年前生活在火星上的有机生命体可能掩埋在该星球表面之下。
The findings could mean that is evidence of living organisms on Mars around 4 billion years ago buried on the planet"s surface.

地外文明搜索协会((Seti)的科学家们使用火星轨道勘测器上的红外观测仪器对尼利•福萨岩石群进行了研究。
Scientists from the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute (Seti) used infrared light from an instrument on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to study the Nili Fossae rocks.

之后他们使用相同的仪器来研究澳大利亚皮尔巴拉地区的岩石。
They then used the exact same instrument to study the Pilbara rocks in Australia.

2008年，科学家首次发现尼利•福萨岩石群中含有碳酸盐成份。

Scientists had first discovered that the Nili Fossae rocks contained carbonate in 2008.

碳酸盐类正是动物尸体或外壳在掩埋保存过程中形成的。 更多信息请访问：http://www.24en.com/
Carbonate is formed when the shells and bodies of dead animals are buried and preserved.

现在，他们在火星和澳大利亚的远古岩石群中均发现很多类似的矿物质。 Now they have discovered that the ancient rocks on Mars and in Australia share many similar minerals.

两组岩石群所含有的碳酸盐十分相近，而这一点对于研究来说十分关键，因为皮尔巴拉地区的岩石被用于研究35亿年前地球早期阶段的生命。
The similarities between the two sets of rocks in terms of carbonates is important because Pilbara is used to study the early stages of life on Earth 3.5 billion years ago.

研究人员确信两组岩石中甚至还包含着“叠层石”成分，皮尔巴拉地区的叠层石便是由远古微生物形成的。
The researchers believe they could even contain ‘stromatolites’, as at Pilbara, which are formed by ancient microbes.

该文章作者，艾德里安•布朗博士在接受BBC采访时说：“皮尔巴拉是一个神奇之地。作为地球的一部分，它屹立在那里已经有约35亿年的时间了，相当于地球四分之三的历史。”
Dr Adrian Brown, the paper’s author, told BBC News: ‘The Pilbara is very cool. It"s part of the Earth that has managed to stay at the surface for around 3.5 billion years - so about three quarters of the history of the Earth.’

“它将使我们更好地洞悉地球早期所发生的一切。”
‘It allows us a little window into what was happening on the Earth at its very early stages.’

目前，研究小组认为维护地球生命迹象的“热液”过程也曾在火星上的尼利•福萨岩石群中发生过。
Now the team believes that the same "hydrothermal" processes that preserved these markers of life on Earth could have taken place on Mars at Nili Fossae.

这些岩石在火星上已经快40多亿年了，这意味着它们见证了约四分之三的火星历史。
The rocks there are up to four billion years old, which means they have been around for three-quarters of the history of Mars.

布朗博士解释道：“我们认为相关的热液活跃性曾为火星早期尼利•福萨岩石群生态活跃性提供了充足的能量。”
Dr Brown explains: "We suggest that the associated hydrothermal activity would have provided sufficient energy for biological activity on early Mars at Nili Fossae.

相关词汇

carbonate 碳酸盐
 
fossilised 已成为化石的
 
hydrothermal 热液的
 
infrared 红外线的
 
microbe 微生物
 
organism 有机体; 生物
 
stromatolite 叠层(石)