Figure . Conceptual diagram of the process by which formaldehyde (H2CO) is formed in the atmosphere on ancient, warm Mars and converted into the material molecules of life in the ocean (©Shungo Koyama).   A research group led by Shungo Koyama, a PhD student, and Prof. Naoki Terada in this laboratory, estimated the amount of formaldehyde produced in the ancient Martian atmosphere using a photochemical model of the atmosphere, and showed that formaldehyde was continuously produced in the warm period of ancient Mars. The results of this study suggest that sugar, a material molecule of life represented by ribose, one...