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Mars is a stripy planet with millions of black streaks that have puzzled scientists for decades — but now researchers may finally have found a proper explanation. So, what are they exactly? They were first found in the 1970s and researchers thought they were the evidence of landslides caused by melting ice. (Picture: ESA)

While the experts still think the streaks are the result of landslides, they believe these were ‘dry processes’ that do not involve any water. This narrowed down the list of potential causes, but did not settle the debate around the streaks’ origins. In one example, on Apollinaris Mons — an extinct shield volcano located just south of Mars' equator — hundreds of parallel streaks can be seen on a single side of a large ridge. (Picture: Her

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