Revised and Updated ebook edition from StarWalk Kids Media, 2014 (click cover to buy)

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Summary:
The question mark at the end of the main title of MARTIAN FOSSILS ON EARTH? is significant. When a group of researchers announced on August 7, 1996 that a meteorite they had been studying showed evidence of ancient life on Mars, scientists all around the world responded as scientists always do -- with a flurry of questions. Indeed, the great excitement that followed the announcement resulted not from what the scientists had already found but rather from the many lines of investigation that it had opened.

This book is designed to place its young readers in the midst of those investigations. It shows them scientific evidence in photographs and illustrations, describe scientific processes, and, most of all, encourage them to ask their own questions.

It is organized into a number of sections, each introduced with a question and each containing one or more striking images and 500-1000 words of clear, simple text. The section titles are the following:

• Why are scientists so excited about a rock?
• How was meteorite ALH 84001 discovered?
• How can we tell that this meteorite comes from Mars?
• Where on Mars did ALH 84001 come from, and how did it get to Earth?
• What is meteorite ALH 84001 made of?
• How do we know the age and history of ALH 84001?
• Did ancient Martian microbes make these chemicals and crystals?
• Did Martian microbes look like this?
• Do other Martian meteorites show signs of life?
• Isn't Mars too cold and dry for life?
• What do these findings suggest about life in the Universe?
• Do all scientists agree about the meaning of these findings?
• What's next on Mars?