In a paper published recently in PNAS, ACA scientists and colleagues describe an ancient deep-sea mud-inhabiting 1800-million-year-old sulfur-cycling microbial community from Western Australia that is essentially identical both to a fossil community 500 million years older and to modern microbial biotas discovered off the coast of South America in 2007. 

http://astrobiology.kiwi/

With contribution by Roger Summons

NASA Rover Finds Active, Ancient Organic Chemistry on Mars

By Jonti Horner, Belinda Nicholson and Brad Carter