You can find the entire article here.

I think that such a discovery is both good and bad. The bad is that if the soil does contain these chemicals the chances of life existing there are dramatically lower. However, it may be possible to harvest such chemicals and exploit them as a fuel source - this would be beneficial for obvious reasons.

What are your thoughts on this?

If oil from the Middle East is expensive, imagine something from freakin' MARS?

It would provide an alternative that may or may not harm the environment, though, depending on how the chemicals are used and filtered. As for life on Mars, maybe Martian life is immune to these chemicals or thrives on them, like chemosynthetic bacteria. Not exactly little green men, but it would be something.

Imagine if there were some kind of fuel on Mars how tough/costly it would be to get it back to Earth. Would it even be worth it?

Yes, but I'm talking about once we've colonized Mars.

Right now it takes years to get there - it would be impossible to transport materials back and forth.

Only the chances of life as we know it on Mars are diminished. The possibilities for life unlike anything people have ever imagined are practically infinite.

Good point, Gillibean.

Everyone automatically assumes that all life functions the way we do - but that isn't necessarily true.

For example, we have aerobic and anaerobic organisms here on Earth. Yet we still speak as though everything requires large amounts of oxygen.

I always found that attitude very odd. Are we really so self centered that imagining life like we've never known is totally beyond us? I think Star Trek really had the right idea when it came to the variety of possible life forms.

Or like a planet has to have water when chemosynthetic protobacteria can thrive off of chemicals that would kill a human.