Last year, during a Mars mission, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Perseverance rover discovered a Martian rock surface where bright speckles were encircled by dark rims. The distinctive patterns, dubbed "leopard spots" because they evoke a leopard's coat on Earth, are being studied with the possibility in mind that they could be traces left by ancient Martian life.
The spots seen in the image measure only a few millimeters in diameter and were found on a large boulder named "Cheyava Falls." Although not yet proven, one hypothesis holds that, long ago, microbes gained energy through chemical reactions within Martian rocks, turning the red rock white and leaving dark, biologically derived rings around it. The patterns resemble similar motifs observed in some rocks on Earth.
However, the possibility that they formed through nonbiological processes has not been completely ruled out. Even so, the suggestion that the patterns could be biological in origin is drawing significant interest from the scientific community.