Salty ponds may be under Mars' icy surface, raising prospect of Martian life

Italian scientists provide further evidence of underground lake and smaller bodies of water in study

A network of salty ponds may be gurgling beneath Mars' south pole alongside a large underground lake, raising the prospect of tiny, swimming Martian life.

Italian scientists reported their findings Monday, two years after identifying what they believed to be a large buried lake. They widened their coverage area by a couple hundred miles, using even more data from a radar sounder on the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter.