NASA’s Curiosity rover has explored Gale Crater, which may once have held an acidic lake that could have helped RNA survive NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Could life have started on Mars billions of years ago? An experiment simulating the origin of life under Martian conditions suggests that it might have done, but only in certain regions where conditions were unusually hospitable.

If life ever existed on Mars, it is conceivable that it began with RNA, which is similar to the DNA that carries our genes. Many scientists suspect that RNA played a key role in life’s beginnings on Earth, and some even argue …