Rovers sent to Mars have so far failed to detect life, likely because it doesn’t exist on the Red Planet. But we can’t say for certain, so the search must continue, using ever-evolving techniques—including this out-of-the-box idea from a team of scientists.

A team of researchers in Germany have proposed a new method for searching for life on alien worlds, which they believe could be integrated into future Mars missions. Finding life on another planet would be a world-changing discovery for humanity.

Makuch, an astrobiologist at Technical University Berlin, has put forward a striking theory suggesting that NASA's Viking landers may have encountered Martian life nearly 50 years ago—only to inadvertently destroy it.