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So where did the water go? And could something still be alive down there? Zhurong found soil layers loaded with salt — and that matters enormously, because salt acts as a natural antifreeze, keeping water liquid far below the normal freezing point. These salty solutions, called brines, are among th…

So where did the water go? And could something still be alive down there? Zhurong found soil layers loaded with salt — and that matters enormously, because salt acts as a natural antifreeze, keeping water liquid far below the normal freezing point. These salty solutions, called brines, are among the best candidates for environments where microbial life could survive on Mars today. On Earth, we already find organisms thriving in eerily similar conditions: beneath Antarctic glaciers, in deep-sea h