<ul><li>The NASA Curiosity rover has discovered the largest organic compounds ever found on Mars, suggesting the planet could have been habitable in the past.</li><li>The compounds found, decane, undecane, and dodecane, are fragments of fatty acids, the building blocks of life on Earth.</li><li>The discovery provides evidence that chemical signatures of past life on Mars could be detected by analyzing samples from the planet.</li><li>The presence of clay minerals, evidence of liquid water, sulfur, nitrates, and methane in the region further supports the possibility of life-forming chemistry on Mars in the past.</li></ul>

Curiosity rover finds tantalizing hints that Mars could once have been habitable

Discover more