In one of Earth’s harshest deserts, translucent crystals are preserving microbial traces, clues that could reshape the search for past life on Mars. Mars is now a cold, radiation-battered world. Yet a broad body of evidence shows that billions of years ago, liquid water flowed across its surface. That wetter past has long fueled the idea that life may once have taken hold before the planet lost i... [3185 chars]