Steve Firth
It isn't actually correct that they found nothing either. The results were inconsistent. Viking found something that did oxidise the food provided, but looked more like an inorganic peroxide reaction than like life. New robotic explorers will be much better equipped and orders of magnitude more sensitive.
Most of the recent probes would have no difficulty finding life on Earth. At least one has even done it. And the prescence of methane in the Martian atmosphere is a tantalising indicator that there may be something alive (methane can't exist for long on Mars).
Until it is possible to do stable isotope measurements on Martian "metabolism" there is no clear way to distinguish it from inorganic reactions. Several groups have experiments planned to fly in the next decade or so (Beagle sadly didn't make it).
New Scientist has reported one of the more startling examples of a new species arising unexpectedly from a chance hybrid that through choice of host plant is well on the way to becoming a distinct species.
But any scientific evidence that conflicts with Creationist fantasy will be automatically rejected by all "true" believers.
Regards, Martin Brown
