Working Science: Tracking the Microbes of Life

As one of the lead participating labs in NASA's Mars Science Laboratory project, the Roger Summons Lab at MIT analyzes potential bio-molecules in ancient Earth sediments and rocks, and applies that expertise to the search for bio-molecules or their precursors on Mars. the Mars Curiosity Rover investigates soil samples on our favorite planet. In this video, we see how geobiologists/astrobiologists select and chemically analyze rock and soil samples on Earth, and how they also analyze data received from the Mars Curiosity Rover.