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271 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
To some of the JSC researchers, the ovoids' shapes resembled those of microfossils, the fossilized remains of bacteria so small that their sizes are measured in microns. But the ovoids at the edges of the carbonate globules are even smaller-smaller, in fact, than any known living organisms or microfossils on Earth. Does this mean that the ovoids are too small to have been alive? No one knows for sure. If living organisms had the size that the ovoids do, we could reasonably talk of nanofossils.
As to the size of living organisms, we do have some new results: Basalt deposits more than a mile below the Columbia River basin appear to contain organisms nearly as small as the "nanofossil" features in ALH 84001. Whatever the facts may be about Mars, life on Earth has lost none of its capacity to amaze, and we may confidently expect still more fantastic news from the study of Earthlife deep underground. Eventually, some opinions concerning the minimum size of a living organ- ism may shift; for now, we may continue to note that opinions vary, including both those that rule out the "nanofossils" as formerly alive and those that see their tiny sizes as no great obstacle to life.