By accepting the fact that globules formed in the presence of water, and that they formed 3.9 billion years ago, it can be deduced that water was present on Mars only 3.9 billion years ago. However, observational data as well as theories of Martian evolution state that water disappeared from Mar's surface 3 billion years ago. Therefore scientists are still unsure of the correct age of these structures. Although the age of the globules is important in order to discover if and when life was present on Mars, what lies inside of them is still more fascinating. The presence of magnetic minerals in the globules of the rock leads to the belief that life once existed on Mars.
Bacteria exist on Earth which produce their own magnetic materials.
These bacteria are called magnetotactic bacteria and are only 1 micronanometer long. Many of these bacteria make a protein know as ferritin, which packs iron atoms at its core. A small amount of the bacteria produce their own magnetic materials which are either magnetite, composed of iron and oxygen, or greigite, made from iron and sulfur. These magnetic minerals were arranged in a repetitive crystalline pattern, and only differed in the element that combined with iron because magnetite is an iron oxide and greigite is an iron sulfide . The minerals in the meteorite had structures that resembled teardrops or cubical shapes, which are shaped similar to those that terrestrial bacteria manufacture.