Cockell and his colleagues put about a dozen different species of insects, including roaches and ants, in a large vacuum box and sucked the air out. The scientists found that most insects still function at about 50 millibars, the equivalent pressure of about 70,000 feet in the air. The roaches' body doubles in size and the insect starts active breathing, Cockell said, but it still moves about and lays eggs. A big problem for life on Mars is the planet's lack of a tectonic system of shifting continental plates to recycle essential nutrients through the biosphere. Penny Boston, a microbiologist at the University of New Mexico, suggested rock-eating bacteria may play a role in distributing essential nutrients to plant and animal life.
Tectonic processes are critical.
You can't have a biosphere without recycling. Instead of relying on volcanoes and earthquakes to distribute minerals and nutrients, Boston suggested unique, rock-eating bacteria could be injected into the ground. Boston said the rock-eating bacteria are so voracious, they could easily churn the Martian soil. Wired Digital Inc. All rights reserved.