"This is the first time any robot has drilled in any rock on Mars" or anywhere else beyond Earth, said Louise Jandura, chief engineer for Curiosity's sample system at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

WSJ: Rover on Mars Extracts First Rock-Core Sample

These figures are from the country's Sample Registration System (SRS), a comprehensive monthly survey of 1.5m households on births and deaths.

ECONOMIST: Letters

By feeding hundreds of sample sounds into the system, the software can distinguish different threats from various sounds - and not just based on volume.

BBC: New CCTV technology senses aggression from sound

Dr Sue Pope, from Principal Forensic Services, agreed: "The effect will be that upgrading to the ESS system will require taking another sample, with obvious costs, " she explained.

BBC: DNA crime-fighting in UK 'lagging behind', experts say

All too often a system that worked well for a sample of 20 drivers wouldn't work when scaled up to the whole company.

FORBES: Technology

And the DJ system boasts all of their favourite features, including sample banks, Sound Colour Filters and rekordbox quantized beat sync.

ENGADGET: Pioneer's new WiFi-enabled XDJ-AERO controller says goodbye wires, hello dancefloor (video)

This opinion is supported by long-term research published recently in the United States, which tracked a sample of academics who had worked within a merit-pay system.

BBC: Performance pay 'doomed to fail'

So, Scout got upgraded from an 8-bit processor to a 32-bit unit based on Micrium, the operation system being used by NASA's Curiosity Rover for sample analysis on Mars.

ENGADGET