Man on Mars: Artificial life that eats carbon dioxide 'could see people move to Red Planet' | Mail Online

The organisms would have huge implications for Earth, where it could potentially be used to stem climate change and help feed a population that will soon top seven billion.

'Obviously, food and fuel production are at the top of our list and society's list,' Dr Venter told an audience at the TEDxNASA@SiliconValley event last week in San Francisco.

According to Space.com, the technology could also be used to build a new civilisation on Mars, as its thin atmosphere is 95 per cent carbon dioxide.

'These kinds of processes will allow us to make almost anything needed there from that carbon dioxide environment,' Dr Venter said.