Earthworms Reproduce in Simulated Mars Soil–a First

news.nationalgeographic.com

3 pointsCWuestefeld3 comments

But the fine print:

the faux soil is still missing one key compound found on Mars—perchlorates. ... the compounds can be lethal to people who consume them or eat plants grown in them. In studies where worms were exposed to high levels of perchlorates, most did not survive.

They should go searching around for earthworms in some of the perchlorate contaminated soils in the US. Natural selection could have given those worms better survivability in the same test.

Ironically, perchlorate contamination is often caused by past rocket motor production & test facilities...

No worms would live on Mars - worms consume the organic material (animal and plant) in the soil, not the minerals. since there is nothing on Mars living (including bacteria), then worm would not survive.

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