Tag: Atacama

Chile desert combed for clues to life on Mars

by Paulina Abramovich ESTACION YUNGAY, Chile (AFP) — Chile’s Atacama desert may seem to contain little besides red-grey rocks and sand — but scientists are busy searching here for clues to life in a place it much resembles: Mars. This desert in northern Chile, like the red planet, is hot, dusty and extremely dry. Yet life exists here: tiny algae and bacteria that have evolved to survive in the parched earth on little more than […]