Is there life on Mars? Paper answers “maybe”

There have been potential hints of life on Mars since at least the 1970s. But at this point, even if life were actually confirmed there it might be less a matter of "Oh great, we've found life on Mars!" and more a matter of "Oh crap, we've contaminated Mars!" Which is probably why any discussions of it are still being kept relatively low key.

That said, if these are puffballs or whatever then it would be trivial to touch one of them just to see what happens. A puffball or other living thing will probably mostly collapse when touched, but a rock or whatever won't. One wonders if NASA has actually tried this yet. And if not, why not.