NYT article speculating about life on Mars

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http://nytimes.com/2004/03/07/weekinreview/07mars.html

Now that there's conclusive evidence that at least part
of Mars was once a water-soaked place where living
things could have wriggled, swam or slithered, it takes
only a few more leaps of speculation to wonder how they
might have died.

....

In a Martian rock that originally carried a few million
microbes, a 10 percent survival rate would still leave a few
hundred thousand Martian microbes to populate Earth.

Or maybe there never were native Martians or Earthlings at
all, and life originated from a third planet.

"We can always blame it on Venus,'' Dr. Jakosky said.