Indeed. The previous episode of hoopla regarding martian "microfossils"
seemed quite a bit too bold. I recently processed some Pt/Ir wire tips in
an arc and created a micro-forest of interesting structures. When viewed
in an SEM, there was an area covered with short, tubular, round-ended
structures that would have better passed for "bacteria" than the those in
the martian sample. I'm told that such things can form
electro-chemically, also. Personally, I think someone at NASA was trying
(valiantly) to get the general public fired up for an expanded Mars
program.