Thiophenes, organic compounds found on Earth in coal, crude oil, and white truffles, were recently discovered on Mars, and astrobiologists think their presence would be consistent with the presence of early life on Mars. Dirk Schulze‑Makuch, WSU adjunct professor in the School of the
While the moon is uninhabitable today, there could have been life on its surface in the distant past. In fact, there may have been two early windows of habitability for Earth’s moon, according to a study online in the journal Astrobiology by Dirk Schulze-Makuch, a Washington State University astrobiologist.