Curiosity drilled a hole in Mars to collect a sample of its surface, which is the first time any rover has drilled such a hole on the Red Planet.

FORBES: Curiosity Drills A Hole On Mars

Earlier this month, the Mars Curiosity rover drilled into the Martian surface, in the hopes of collecting a sample from the interior of a rock.

FORBES: Curiosity Confirms Rock Sample Found From Beneath Mars

Drilling a few centimetres inside a rock provides a fresh sample that is free from the alteration that can occur at the surface as a result of weathering or radiation damage.

BBC: Curiosity Mars rover hammers into rock

University of Miami pathologist Richard Cote is using Yang's principle of a lensless microscope to pioneer a way to move a microscope across sample cells located on a fixed surface.

FORBES: Magazine Article