一座位于太平洋中的小岛可能会为科学家提供火星上存在生命的证据。这座岛屿其实是一座水下火山露出水面的部分，恰恰是这座火山的活动为一些简单生物的形成提供了可能性。而火星上也有类似的火山残留痕迹。

 

Our planet's youngest island has a tongue-twister of a name: Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai. It exploded out of a huge submerged volcanic¹ mountain in spectacular style, throwing ash and rock into the air.

 

Since the drama of its birth passed, though, scientists have been fascinated by the story of its survival. As Pacific waves lashed² at it, researchers expected the island to erode³ away in months. But almost three years on, it's still there – a windswept volcanic cone⁴ of about two-and-a-half square kilometres.

 

Its entire life so far has been recorded on satellite images, and the researchers studying it have since been able to visit the island, collecting rock and soil samples. Jim Garvin from Nasa has been there and explained that it was a rare template for understanding how similar looking volcanoes on the surface of the Red Planet may have evolved.

 

But scientists don't expect it to stick around forever: storm action should eventually dismantle⁵ it. But they estimate they'll have about two to three decades to watch it very closely before its demise⁶.  

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