HMM: Strange Patterns Discovered on the Red Planet Offer Tantalizing New Evidence for Ancient Life on Mars. “Rapin and the research team say these salt deposits are the first direct fossil evidence of an ongoing cyclical Martian climate where both wet and dry seasons occurred in its ancient past, although previous research had already suggested changes in the seasonal environment on the planet would be capable of providing conditions perfect for the formation of complex compounds that form the building blocks of life.”