NASA, this week, released a spectacular 1.3 billion pixel image that was taken by the Curiosity Mars Rover. It shows Curiosity at the "Rocknest" site where the rover scooped up samples of windblown dust and sand. While this is a reduced version of an original panorama you can find the full version complete with pan and zoom controls by clicking on the photo. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

NASA’s spectacular 1.3 billion pixel image, taken by the Curiosity Mars Rover, shows Curiosity at the Rocknest site, where it scooped up samples of windblown dust and sand. This is a reduced version of the original panorama. Click on photo to see full version. (NASA)

Three mouse lemurs (Microcebus murinus) peer cautiously from their nesting tube at the sound of an approaching technician who might just be carrying snacks. Researchers from the Duke Lemur Center recently conducted personality research that found some of mouse lemurs are shy, while others were actually bold. (David Haring, Duke Lemur Center)

Three mouse lemurs (Microcebus murinus) peer cautiously from their nesting tube. Personality research from the Duke Lemur Center found some mouse lemurs are shy, while others were actually bold. (David Haring, Duke Lemur Center)

Scientists at France’s Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne designed and built a robotic ‘cheetah-cub’ that runs like a cat. During tests, it demonstrated an ability to run fast and steady at nearly seven times its body length in one second. While it’s not as agile as a real cat, the French scientists say it still has excellent auto-stabilization characteristics (© EPFL)

Scientists at the Switzerland’s Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne designed and built a robotic cheetah cub that runs like a cat. During tests, the device demonstrated an ability to run fast and steady at nearly seven times its body length in one second. (© EPFL)

A team of researchers from the University of Miami was recently doing some filming at Dean’s Blue Hole in the Bahamas. It’s the world's deepest known blue hole or underwater sinkhole that drops to a depth of 202 meters. (Patrick Rynne)

University of Miami researchers film at Dean’s Blue Hole in the Bahamas, the world’s deepest known blue hole or underwater sinkhole that drops to a depth of 202 meters. (Patrick Rynne)

We all how know just how industrious an ant can be. Here’s one carrying a wild chili pepper seed. (Thomas Carlo)

Scientists from the University of Washington, studying in South America, have found that seeds of the wild chili pepper have a better chance of surviving and becoming a new plant if first swallowed and then expelled by a bird. Here’s an ant carrying a wild chili pepper seed that made its trip by and through a bird. (Thomas Carlo)

The Sculptor galaxy located in the constellation Sculptor is seen here in a new composite image from NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and the European Southern Observatory in Chile. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/JHU)

The Sculptor galaxy, located in the constellation Sculptor, is seen in a new composite image from NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and the European Southern Observatory in Chile. (NASA)

Usually particle accelerators such as CERN’s Large Hadron Collider are quite large in size – the LHC is contained within a tunnel 27 kilometers in circumference. But, scientists at the University of Texas at Austin recently built one that can sit on a tabletop. (Rafal Zgadzaj)

Scientists at the University of Texas at Austin recently built a particle accelerator that can sit on a tabletop. Most particle accelerators, such as CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC), are massive. The LHC is contained within a tunnel that is 27 kilometers in circumference. (Rafal Zgadzaj)

This is a living brain neuron in culture. A team of scientists from the University of Southern California has developed a way to see where and how memories are made by engineering microscopic probes that light up synapses in a living neuron in real time by attaching fluorescent markers onto synaptic proteins – all without affecting the neuron's ability to function. (Don Arnold)

This is a living brain neuron in culture. Scientists from the University of Southern California have developed a way to see where and how memories are made by engineering microscopic probes that light up synapses in a living neuron in real time by attaching fluorescent markers onto synaptic proteins – all without affecting the neuron’s ability to function. (Don Arnold)

Could this little guy be in your salad? A cabbage looper caterpillar makes it way through some spinach and carrots. (Se Kim/Rice University)

Rice University scientists are conducting research to determine if produce such as spinach and carrots can be encouraged to product more cancer-fighting antioxidants by controlling its circadian cycle with light. Here, a cabbage looper caterpillar makes its way through some of vegetable that were being studied. (Se Kim/Rice University)

Scientists are getting ready to launch a rocket from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia for a five-minute trip to study a global electrical current called the dynamo that sweeps through the ionosphere. A chemical trail like the one here will help researchers track wind movement to determine how it affects the movement of charged particles in the atmosphere. (NASA)

Scientists are getting ready to launch a rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The five-minute trip will be to study a global electrical current called the dynamo that sweeps through the ionosphere. A chemical trail, like the one here, will help researchers track wind movement to determine how it affects the movement of charged particles in the atmosphere. (NASA)