The LR experiments noted something. It was not designed to 'find microbes'. It was designed to find evidence of microbial life. What it found was something.

I think it's nice that the LR and other Viking data are being reviewed, but this data is not going to change, and the results will remain inconclusive.

Will Dr. Levin be proven right?

I say, no time soon, Barry.

The only way Dr. Levin can be proven correct is with a personal return to Mars, to the physical locations of the Viking landers, where the equipment can be properly tested for malfunction, and then where a real, genuine, human scientist can repeat the much-pointed-to LR experiment. Without this process, he remains as right as Socrates and Cyrano de Bergerac (yes, the swordsman really existed -- and is touted as the world’s first known sci-fi author), with their mutterings on how politics on various planets are carried out.

That life exists elsewhere in the Universe is very possible (50/50, until proven one way or the other). That it exists in a stellar/planetary system where life has been proven to exist (us and Earth) is a given. The discovery that life exists on any of the Solar planets other than Earth should be looked upon as a great find, but certainly not a stunning find. It should almost be expected. The surprise will come with the discovery that Mars is actually barren.

Again, Dr. Levin's discovery will have to wait until he is proven to be correct.

Just my lil' ol' 2 cents worth,

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