The fascinating story of the Labeled Release experiment reached its peak 40 years ago today when the first Viking Lander sent back results from the planet Mars showing microbial life does exist on Martian soil. After some initial celebration NASA decided, on balance, the positive result must have been a mistake. No further biological missions have been sent to the red planet - it is now only geology - and you'll notice missions have changed from 'looking for life' to 'looking for signs that Mars could have supported life'.
Research the story by starting with a gripping account in Michael Brooks' '13 Things That Don't Make Sense' or this online essay by Geoff Olson; then note that a recent paper ran a statistical analysis of the mission data and found to disagree with NASA's ultimate conclusion.
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