Assume that in the year 2025, the first expedition of humans to Mars discovers several Martian life forms thriving in hydrothermal vents that exist below the planet’s surface. Several teams of molecular biologists extract proteins and nucleic acids from these organisms and make some momentous discoveries. Their first discovery is that the proteins in Martian life forms contain only 14 different amino acids instead of the 20 present in lifeforms on Earth. Their second discovery is that the DNA and RNA in these organisms have only two different nucleotides instead of the four nucleotides present in living organisms on Earth. 

(a) Assuming that transcription and translation work similarly in Martians and Earthlings, what is the minimum number of nucleotides that must be present in the Martian codon to specify all the amino acids in Martians? 

(b) Assuming that the Martian code proposed above has translational start-and-stop signals, would you expect the Martian genetic code to be degenerate like the genetic code used on Earth?