In science we have to keep an open mind and a sense of humor. When we ran across this article (and picture) we laughed out loud! Please visit Cosmic Log to read the article in full, watch videos and get your chuckle for the day!!!

“NASA’s Curiosity rover dug up its first scoopful of sandy soil and swished it around like a connoisseur tasting wine. But the long-anticipated sampling session had to be put on hold when Curiosity’s handlers spotted a bright and tiny object nearby.

What the heck is it? A loose screw? A cigarette butt? A piece of Martian macaroni? The mystery lit up a few Twitter feeds, but for now, the best hypothesis seems to be that it’s a bit of plastic that fell off the rover.

Such droppings aren’t unusual. ‘All the cool landers drop stuff on Mars,’ joked Sarah Milkovich, a member of the Curiosity team as well as the science team for the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Sarcastic Rover chimed in on twitter: ‘Did anyone lose an earring on Mars? Because I may have found it. Or else I’m falling apart. But let’s hope earring.’ ”

Oh, please, if nothing else – follow Sarcastic Rover on twitter. Soooo amusing!

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excerpt from article on Cosmic Log by: Alan Boyle, originally published: Oct 8, 2012 http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/08/14300136-mars-curiosity-rover-holds-up-on-its-scoops-to-check-out-weird-object?lite