Do ‘mushrooms’ on Mars count as evidence of life?

A new study, whose findings have been widely reported including by British tabloids such The Daily Mail and The Daily Express, claims to have found “evidence” — photographs that are supposedly of mushrooms — to support the hypothesis that life exists on Mars.

It has led to interest because the photographs were taken by NASA rovers Curiosity and Opportunity. However, it has also been met with skepticism, and the paper itself concedes that the evidence is not proof.

The study has been published in Journal of Astrobiology and Space Science. The five researchers include a microbiologist with Pondicherry University, Regina S Dass, while the other four are with institutions in the US and Italy. It looks at various kinds of “evidence”, including simulation studies on what species can survive in a Mars-like environment, besides the specimens that resemble fungi, “puffballs”,  algae and lichens.

The study also proposes Earth as an “obvious source” of life on Mars. Citing previous studies, it states: “It is probable that solar winds striking, ejecting and propelling microbe-laden dust and debris in the stratosphere and mesosphere, deep into space… and microbes dwelling in rock ricocheted into space from Earth by meteor strikes, have repeatedly contaminated Mars and other planets… and vice versa.” Even spacecraft may have carried fungi or microorganisms to Mars, it suggests.