Data collected from the Perseverance rover last year has just delivered what might be the best evidence yet for microbial life on Mars .

The best explanation for leopard-spot speckles on a rock named Chevaya Falls (and others like it in the Bright Angel formation) is biological processes, according to exhaustive analysis led by geoscientist and planetary scientist Joel Hurowitz of Stony Brook University in the US.

Of course, we won't know for sure until the sample collected by Perseverance has been brought to Earth for comprehensive study. Non-biological processes are still on the table – but the evidence compiled by Hurowitz and his colleagues is tantalizingly compelling.

Related: Weird Rock on Mars May Actually Show Signs of Ancient Life

Chevaya Falls was found by Perseverance j

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