Hopes of flowing water on Mars are evaporating. In 2015, scientists announced they had found dark streaks on mountains on Mars. At the time, they believed the streaks were formed by running water. However, a paper published Thursday in Nature Geosciences suggests the streaks were instead shaped by falling sand.
Why it matters: It seems counterintuitive, but this could make plans to travel to Mars a little easier. If there's running, liquid water on Mars, there could also be life. And that means that any missions would have to go to great lengths to avoid contaminating it. The authors note any water that is present would likely be "inhospitable to known terrestrial life, alleviating planetary protection concerns."
That doesn't mean there isn't life on Mars, but it's even less likely than before — and it probably won't be contaminated by any bacterial hitchhikers humans might send along.
