Some exciting news has been stirring lately that is literally out of this world. For the past year and a half, the land rover Curiosity has been off-roading around Mars taking panoramic pictures of the surface. Thanks to one man with a keen eye and a trace of paranoia, one picture has captured the world's attention.
Like most pictures sent back to Earth from Mars, this one features a desolate landscape stretching as far as the eye can see. However, a blogger who specializes in UFO sightings (resolving any doubts about scientific validity) noticed something amazing hiding among all of the rocks, dirt and other rocks: a rat. Imagine the excitement! Potential proof that life can be sustained on Mars and be susceptible to the bubonic plague.
There's just one problem... okay, there are many problems. The major issue, though, is that the item in question is not actually a rat. It's a rock that looks like a rat. More specifically, it's a rock that kind of looks like a rat if you turn your head, squint your eyes, and have no idea what a rat looks like.
To be fair, the original post doesn't call it a rat. Instead, it's called a rodent, later specified as a squirrel. Others claim it looks more like a lizard. Whatever people think it looks like, it's not the first Martian landscape to get people all worked up. A 1976 photo taken by the Viking 1 orbiter was famous for what looked like a human mask lying on the surface. That, too, has since been discredited as merely a rock with an eerie resemblance.
These visual interpretations are example of what psychologists call pareidolia – a natural condition in which people assign significance to something random. This is why some people believe that a certain group of stars looks like a giant bear and other people think the burn marks in their grilled cheese look like Jesus.
However, that hasn't stopped people from insisting the rat is real. And that begs the question: does the animal originate from Mars, or did NASA send it up as a precursor to manned missions? After all, how could we set up a colony on Mars and not feel homesick without some vermin running around?
It may sound ridiculous, but there would be a good reason for testing out the living conditions. A project called Mars One expects to send humans to Mars in 2023 as a part of a huge scientific endeavor. And to make it more exciting, the humans aren't going to be some elite group of scientists chosen for their expertise and accomplishments. Instead, it will be a ragtag group of civilians chosen from applications sent in as part of a reality show... seriously.
The mission was announced in 2011 and has since garnered thousands of applications from everyday folks looking to take a trip to the red planet. Of course, due to scientific limitations and the expectation that these people will be developing a new colony there, it will only be a one-way trip. [To customize this article for yourself, just add your own joke here about which politician, celebrity, or idiot who cut you off in traffic you'd send.]
You can already peruse the applicants on the official website and rate the people you think should take the trip. As the big trip approaches, the voting will be opened up as part of a huge global media experience. The winners will get an all-expense-paid trip to Mars, where they'll build their own homes, create their own water from the soil, read the same five books a hundred times, and try to avoid asphyxiation from dust storms. It's like winning the lottery, only less fun and deadlier. But hey – if they do finally make it to Mars, they can always drive around looking for rats.
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