Two teams hope to send DNA-sequencing machines to Mars to prove the Red Planet harbors life. One of the groups is led by Craig Venter, who believes in building better bugs. From Antonio Regalado at MIT Technology Review:

“Although neither team yet has a berth on Mars rocket, their plans reflect the belief that the simplest way to prove there is life on Mars is to send a DNA sequencing machine.

‘There will be DNA life forms there,’ Venter predicted Tuesday in New York, where he was speaking at the Wired Health Conference.

Venter said researchers working with him have already begun tests at a Mars-like site in the Mojave Desert. Their goal, he said, is to demonstrate a machine capable of autonomously isolating microbes from soil, sequencing their DNA, and then transmitting the information to a remote computer, as would be required on an unmanned Mars mission. Heather Kowalski, a spokeswoman for Venter, confirmed the existence of the project but said the prototype system was ‘not yet 100 percent robotic.'”