One of the premises of my upcoming novel Heirs of the Ancients is that life originated on Mars. I just ran across a fascinating article that actually seems to support at least part of my plot!
To quote from the article:
Mars formed before Earth did. Early in Martian history when Mars was cooling down, Mars would have had a "hospitable" environment before Earth.
"If life was going to start anywhere it might start first on Mars," Asphaug said. "We don't know what the requirement is — you know, if it required something super special like the existence of a moon or some factors that are unique to the Earth — but just in terms of what place had liquid water first, that would have been Mars.
I won't give away more than what I've already said, but it is always so weird to write a fictional account of some event and then read days or weeks later about some scientific ideas on the same subject!
The article appeared in Salon.com. I encourage you to peruse it while you wait for me to finish Heirs of the Ancients. While you wait, you could also pick up the prequel, A Trio of Worlds.
Happy reading everyone!
