By Alabama Public Radio
Tuscaloosa, AL – There's been a lot of talk recently about developments on Mars ... now a University of Alabama instructor will help study the possibility of life, past or present, on the red planet.
This Spring, Eric Roden, an associate professor of biological sciences, will be part of a team that has received a five million dollar grant from NASA to conduct their research. Roden will receive about 485-thousand dollars over five years for his part of the study.
Roden will travel to Oregon in a few months to study rocks and the different ways they could support microbial life. Scientists have learned that certain rocks found in Oregon, Idaho, and Hawaii contain minerals similar to those found on Mars.