Robot finds life
No, this is not a feel-good "geek gets social skills" piece of the variety that belongs in the Life & Times section — this is hard news about Zoë the four-wheeled robot, so listen up. The big news isn't that Zoë found life in Chile (we got a tip on that last week, thanks Jon!), it's that a robot was able to use sensor equipment to detect life in an arid terrain highly similar to the surface of one red planet in our solar system. The harsh conditions and sparse biology of the landscape make the successful feat of finding microbes a positive indicator that a similarly designed robot could detect life on Mars. In phase two of this project, Zoë will be unleashed into terrestrial disco clubs to see if she can turn anything up there. We wait with bated breath.
