From Robert Jaggs-Fowler, Barton upon Humber, Lincolnshire, UK
Laura Spinney’s informative article on the isolation of ancient DNA (aDNA) from soil raises an intriguing consideration. Soil collected by NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover will return to Earth as part of the Mars Sample Return mission, probably some time in the 2030s. I suspect I am not the only person now eagerly awaiting the analysis of these samples for aDNA and the possible answering of one of the oldest questions known to modern humankind (4 January, p 36).
