And now that we have as a national commitment to send humans to Mars some time in the future, we are trying to find out as much about Mars as we can.

NPR: Revisiting the Viking Missions to Mars

"We want to be sure that what we are testing is Mars, and not Earth contaminants, " said MSL mission operations manager Michael Watkins.

WSJ: Mars Mission Seeks a Happy Landing

Secondly, we see that men really are from Mars and women really are from Venus, and there's a big gender gap in the data with women solidly voting Democratic, men voting Republican.

NPR: As Election Day Nears, Poll Data Questioned

It isn't uncommon to find environmentalists who are in awed disbelief that we can be spending billions searching for life on Mars and space explorers who feel that a focus on environmentalism narrows the reach and vision of our civilization.

CNN: How the search for aliens can help sustain life on Earth

At the same time we are trying to solve climate change, police the world and send a manned mission to Mars.

FORBES: Should We Starve the Beast?

No, I fear that Mars moves in very murky and mysterious ways indeed, and we mere mortals are unlikely to be able to shine a searchlight upon them - at least, not until Apollo stops being the god of 40 watt light bulbs.

BBC: A Point of View: Why euphemism is integral to modern warfare

As we speak, two remarkable robots are hard at work more than 30 million miles away on the surface of Mars.

NPR: Mars Rover Marks Second Anniversary of Landing