Mars 'has life's building blocks'

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. We already knew this, didn't we?

Those 'basic building blocks' are the same ones that created earth

What Mars really needs is a thicker atmosphere, which it used to have..

Mars' atmosphere is believed to have changed over the course of the planet's lifetime, with evidence suggesting the possibility that Mars had large oceans a few billion years ago.[7] As stated in the Mars Ocean Hypothesis, atmospheric pressure on the present day Martian surface only exceeds that of the triple point of water (6.11 hectopascals (0.0886 psi)) in the lowest elevations; at higher elevations water can exist only in solid or vapor form. Annual mean temperatures at the surface are currently less than 210 K (−63 °C; −82 °F), significantly lower than what is needed to sustain liquid water. However, early in its history Mars may have had conditions more conducive to retaining liquid water at the surface.

Possible causes for the depletion of a previously thicker Martian atmosphere include:

Catastrophic collision by a body large enough to blow away a significant percentage of the atmosphere;[8]
Gradual erosion of the atmosphere by solar wind;[9] and
On-going removal of atmosphere due to electromagnetic field and solar wind interaction.[8]
Mars low gravity allowed the atmosphere to "blow off" into space by gas-kinetic escape. [10]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Mars