Golombek revealed that the Pathfinder lander bounced more than 16 times on its cushion of air bags before coming to rest in the area called Ares Vallis.

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Prof Vallis said "it is attracted to DNA damage", where it then delivers a dose of radiation, causing more damage and attracting even more antibodies - it is a "self-amplifying system".

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Prof Katherine Vallis said lumps could be felt when the mice were about 120 days old, but "we detected changes prior to that at 90 to 100 days - before a tumour is clinically apparent".

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For instance, Mawrth Vallis, one of the largest identified clay-rich regions on the Red Planet, exhibits a more uniform mineralogy pattern that indicates water was much more closely tied to surface processes on the planet.

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