Mermaids on Mars

A photograph recently released by NASA from the Spirit rover on Mars shows what appears to be a humanoid form in a rock formation, curiously similar to the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen. Naturally, the BBC science section, traditionally noted for its stellar science reporting, picked this up and immediately ran it under the headline ‘Mystery image of “life on Mars”‘. Casting this as an even-handed, two-sided report between alien life enthusiasts and dour, grumpy old skeptics, the Beeb reported, apparently in all seriousness, that theories explaining this phenomenon ranged from a garden gnome to Sasquatch to the Virgin Mary. But by far the best comment came from some poster on some site somewhere, which the BBC did not see fit to identify except by the handle ‘Madurobob’, who ’said it was a statue “obviously built by an ancient civilisation that later departed Mars and settled Denmark”.’ There are also some gems to be found in the talking point page on the BBC website.

Bad Astronomy, mentioned in the article but not linked to, has some terrific commentary and follow-up posts.