摘要：在接下来的十年中，太空机构计划将岩石样品从火星带到地球进行研究。令人担忧的是，这些样本包含生命的可能性可能会带来无法预料的后果。因此，该领域的研究人员努力创造方法来检测生命。现在，研究人员成功地证明了一种检测与火星上类似的古代岩石生命的方法。...
在接下来的十年中，太空机构计划将岩石样品从火星带到地球进行研究。令人担忧的是，这些样本包含生命的可能性可能会带来无法预料的后果。因此，该领域的研究人员努力创造方法来检测生命。 For the first time, researchers, including those from the University of Tokyo and NASA, successfully demonstrated a method to detect life in ancient rocks analogous to those found on Mars.
我们都看过电影，其中“科学家从太空中带回一些东西，带来灾难性的后果”或一些类似的前提。这个想法使一个有趣的故事是一个有趣的故事，但是微生物外星人污染地球的想法是基于真正的担忧，也没有什么新鲜事物。 Back in the days of the Apollo program, on their return, the lucky astronauts who stepped foot on lunar soil underwent decontamination procedures and even quarantines, just in case.最近，随着计划进行多项样本回程任务，所有人的目光都注视着火星。
In order to ensure that samples from Mars cannot contaminate Earth life, the international Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) developed the sample safety assessment framework, essentially a set of protocols for those involved in obtaining, transporting and analyzing Mars rocks, to avoid contamination.其中的一个关键组成部分是我们检测样本中生命的存在或不存在的能力。当然，我们实际上还没有任何问题。 To plug this gap, Associate Professor Yohey Suzuki from the Department of Earth and Planetary Science at the University of Tokyo, and his international team, looked at ancient microbe-rich Earth rocks analogous to the kind of Mars rocks we might expect to receive from the red planet in the coming years.
"We first tested conventional analytical instruments, but none could detect microbial cells in the 100-million-year-old basalt rock we use as the Martian analogue. So, we had to find an instrument sensitive enough to detect microbial cells, and ideally in a nondestructive way, given the rarity of the samples we may soon see," said Suzuki. "We came up with optical photothermal infrared (O-PTIR) spectroscopy, which succeeded where other techniques either lacked precision or required too much destruction of the samples."
O-PTIR通过将红外光照射到准备好的样品上进行分析。在这种情况下，岩石将其外层移除并切成片。虽然有些破坏性，但对于其他类型的分析，甚至我们还没有提出的那些分析，它留下了很多完整的材料。对未来的保存本质也发生在月球着陆的样本中。然后，绿色激光从样品中接触到红外光线的样品中拾取信号。因此，研究人员可以将细节描绘成一半千分尺的细节，这足以辨别何时结构是生活的一部分。
"We demonstrated our new method can detect microbes from 100-million-year-old basalt rock. But we need to extend the validity of the instrument to older basalt rock, around 2 billion years old, similar to those the Perseverance rover on Mars has already sampled," said Suzuki. "I also need to test other rock types such as carbonates, which are common on Mars and here on Earth often contain life as well. It's an exciting time to work in this field. It might only be a matter of years before we can finally answer one of the greatest questions ever asked."
