Scientist: NASA Found Life on Mars -- and Killed It

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two NASA space probes that visited Mars 30 years ago may have found alien microbes on the red planet and inadvertently killed them, a scientist is theorizing. The Viking space probes of 1976-77 were looking for the wrong kind of life, so they didn't recognize it, a geology professor at Washington State University said.

The paper was released Sunday.

Last month, scientists excitedly reported that new photographs of Mars showed geologic changes that suggest water occasionally flows there -- the most tantalizing sign that Mars is hospitable to life.

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/01/07/mars.life.ap/