Posted by tourdemars to Life on Mars at November 27, 2002 12:00 PM

In the search for life on other planets, one of the most important questions is: "What are we searching for?' Biologists on Earth have traveled to the most inhospitable parts of the planet to find extreme forms of life in hopes of answering that query. A new study from scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Center for Life Detection shows that bacteria living in Death Valley's salt-encrusted mud may hold clues to finding microbes on Mars.