It looks like Barry DiGregorio's book _Mars: the Living Planet_ has been joined by another scientific examination of the topic that concludes that Viking did find life on Mars:

Mars: The Inside Story of the Red Planet
Heather Couper, Nigel Henbest
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0747235430/026-0058521-2652466

Life on Mars
Radio National Breakfast
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/brkfast/stories/s902108.htm [RealAudio]

Mars: the Living Planet.
by Barry DiGregorio
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1883319587/102-4014776-6705736

Bob Clark

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ET alive and on Mars: astronomers

By Leigh Dayton and Steven Swinford

July 15, 2003

NASA found evidence of life on Mars in 1976, but dismissed the findings
as impossible, two British astronomers claim.

Now, evidence from missions such as the Mars Global Surveyor suggests
that the early observation was correct after all.

For instance, newly released high-resolution images of the planet's
surface show a valley which might have been originally formed by liquid
water, the stuff of life.

According to Nigel Henbest and Heather Couper, independent astronomy
writers and broadcasters, one of three biology experiments conducted on
Mars by the two Viking landers obtained clear evidence that there were
living microbes on the red planet.

The experimental instrument, designed by engineer Gilbert Levin, head
of the Biospherics company in the US, exposed samples of the Martian
soil to an Earth-like solution of water and nutrients known to exist in
meteorites and interstellar clouds.

"It was the kind of solution that bacteria on Earth would love to
slurp," Mr Henbest, in Sydney for the International Astronomical
Union's 24th general assembly, said.

"It was cleverly designed so that if there was no life, then nothing
would happen, but if there were microbes, they would take in the
solution and produce gas." He said the gas was tagged with a
radioactive label that could be detected by the experiment's built-in
Geiger detector.

Also speaking at the assembly, astronomer Seth Shostak predicted that
scientists will find ET within 25 years.

Dr Shostak, with the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence
Institute (SETI) claimed that a $US10 billion ($15 billion) array of
350 specially designed radio telescopes under construction in
California will crank up the search for extraterrestrial radio signals.

"It's like going from walking to jet speed, like finding a needle in a
haystack with a big shovel instead of a small spoon," he said.

In their new book Mars: the inside story of the red planet Mr Henbest
and Dr Couper reveal that Dr Levin's instrument tested three soil
samples at differing temperatures. When tested at 46C, the sample
emitted gas, indicating the presence of bacteria-like organisms.

"Independent people say that if this were the only experiment on Viking
the (scientists) would have been persuaded that there is evidence for
life on Mars," Mr Henbest said.

The problem was that neither of the other two experiments found
telltale signs of life. NASA dismissed Dr Levin's findings.

The Australian
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