Chasing Martian Microbes: A New Technique for Finding Microbial Fossils in Minerals

This 32-minute SETI Institute talk follows Youcef Sellam's scientific journey from a road trip to an Algerian gypsum quarry to groundbreaking research on microbial fossils. Discover how Sellam and his colleagues made the first-ever discovery of microbial fossils in Algerian gypsum, and how their research at the University of Bern developed a specialized chemical detection method that could revolutionize the search for past life on Mars. Learn about their innovative approach to identifying biological signatures in minerals, as detailed in their paper published in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences. Join planetary scientist Beth Johnson and Youcef Sellam as they discuss how this research advances our ability to detect potential traces of ancient life on the Red Planet.