This week in stories we’re covering at The Debrief… Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft just completed its flyby of the mysterious asteroid Torifune over the weekend, in a celestial rendezvous that nearly coincided with the Chinese Tianwen-2 mission’s successful capturing of new images of Earth’s “quasi-moon”. Equally intriguing are the unusual “polygon” structures NASA’s Curiosity rover just spotted and photographed on the Martian surface; what are they, and what caused them? And finally, bringing things back down to Earth a bit, scientists have revealed new details about an odd “reversal” that occurred deep within the Earth’s molten core, and what new findings suggest that could mean.

In addition to these stories, here’s a look at more of the stories we’re following right now at The Debrief…

• Archaeologists Opened a Chinese Lord’s 2,600-Year-Old Tomb—and Discovered Dozens of “Deactivated” Metallic Artifacts
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• How Jellyfish Can ‘Miraculously’ Heal Without Scars Has Long Remained a Mystery—Scientists Now Know Their Secret
  Jellyfish can close a wound in real time, without stitches, scabs, or scars. Now scientists have unlocked the secrets of how they do it.
• The Brain’s Language System Is Far More Expansive Than Scientists Thought, New Study Finds
  New evidence suggests the brain’s language network is far more widespread than previously thought.
• Surprising Evidence of a ‘Lost’ Ancient City is Emerging from Beneath the Sands of Egypt’s Western Desert
  Archaeologists have found the remains of an ancient ‘lost’ city in Egypt’s western desert, Ministry of Antiquity officials have revealed.
• How Did a Crab Become Trapped in a Bottle with an Opening Too Small to Enter? Once-Baffled Scientists Say They’ve Solved the Mystery
  An oceanic mystery has unfolded with the discovery of a crab in a plastic bottle with an opening too small for the crustacean to fit through.
• A.I. Just Mapped a ‘Hidden’ Structure Inside One of the Most Complex Problems in Physics
  A single machine learning model just turned one of condensed matter physics’ most persistent problems into a navigable map.
• Hidden for More Than 1,000 Years, a Lost Maya City Has Been Uncovered Deep in the Mexican Jungle
  An international team of archaeologists reports the discovery of a previously unknown Maya city hidden beneath a millennium of jungle growth.
• Look: NASA Celebrates “America 250” This Independence Day With a Patriotic View of the Cosmos
  With the arrival of America’s 250th birthday this Independence Day weekend, NASA is marking the occasion with a patriotic-themed perspective on the cosmos.
• These Microbes Could Allow Plants to Grow in Impossibly Salty Soil
  Salty soil, one of the greatest threats to agriculture, may have a new cure in the form of soil bacteria that allows plants to thrive.
• A ‘Second Breakfast’ for Real-Life Hobbits? New Evidence Calls into Question Past Presumptions About Homo Floresiensis
  Homo floresiensis, a tiny ancient hominin, often compared to the hobbits of the Lord of the Rings, engaged in a sort of second breakfast.
• “We’ve Replicated in Chemistry What Only Used to be Possible in Biology”: Scientists Have Created the First Fully Synthetic Cell
  Researchers have developed the first entirely artificial cell, made completely from non-living chemical components.
• Hawking Radiation Breakthrough: These Black Hole Emissions Could Reveal Quantum Gravity
  New experiments are bringing into focus the mechanism behind Hawking radiation, demonstrating black holes are not strictly a one-way street.
• The Unconscious Brain May Be More Capable Than Scientists Realized
  While a patient is fully anesthetized and unresponsive, neurons in the hippocampus continue to process language, distinguish different types of words, and generate neural activity consistent with predicting upcoming words.
• America at 250: From the Battle for Independence, to the Fight Over Artificial Intelligence
  As America celebrates its 250th birthday, we look at technological revolutions that have shaped the country—and the AI revolution now poised to redefine its future.
• This Intriguing Exoplanet is Just 25 Light-Years from Earth—Is Its Too Dangerous to Be Home to Life?
  Researchers have discovered a potentially habitable exoplanet just 25 light-years from Earth—but is its precarious location on the cosmic shore too dangerous for extraterrestrial life?

An unusual discovery on the Red Planet has revealed an odd-looking series of polygon-shaped structures, documented in new images obtained by NASA’s Curiosity Rover.

The curious features were discovered after Curiosity was dispatched to an area of interest on the Martian terrain initially identified from orbital imagery obtained by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

Upon its arrival at the area, which the satellite imagery had conveyed as appearing light in coloration and apparently smooth-surfaced, Curiosity discovered something vastly different.

Curiosity Uncovers a Martian Honeycomb

Writing at NASA’s Curiosity blog, Senior Research Scientist William Farrand of the Space Science Institute described the area in question as being “covered with polygonal structures like the top of a giant Martian honeycomb.”

Polygonal structures are a frequent occurrence in nature, as evidenced by the Curiosity team’s likening them to a “honeycomb” in appearance. Similar polygon-shaped features are often seen in geology, such as the famous Giant’s Causeway on Northern Ireland’s Antrim Coast, which consists of close to 40,000 interlocking basalt columns that bear a similar appearance to the features recently discovered on Mars by Curiosity.

This is also not the first time such features have been observed by Curiosity. Last May, NASA revealed similar discoveries of structural features resembling honeycomb or “waffle” patterns.

As Curiosity proceeded into the unusual area, imagery provided by the rover revealed additional polygonal features, albeit in a more eroded condition than the features it initially spotted.

“Littered about this unit are pebble to cobble-sized dark-toned rocks,” Farrand wrote, adding that among the unresolved questions researchers with the Curiosity team have “is whether these are bits of Mars that ‘floated’ down from higher in the stratigraphy, were ejected from distant impacts outside of Gale crater, or are meteorites from beyond Mars altogether.”

Clues Pointing to Meteorites?

A potential clue arises from the presence of nickel Curiosity detected in some of the darker stones. This may be significant, since nickel is generally rare in Martian rocks.

The same can’t be said for meteorites, though, which often contain an abundance of nickel and other metals. On Earth, meteors that flash in vivid shades of green as they collide with Earth’s atmosphere do so when nickel and magnesium are present within these space rocks.

It remains unclear whether all the darker-colored stones discovered by Curiosity are possible fragments from a meteorite or if their appearance is due to other factors that remain undetermined.

“Further investigations should help in answering this question,” Farrand added.

Ongoing Research by Curiosity

On Monday, June 29, 2026, Curiosity continued its investigations of these unusual features with its APXS and MAHLI instruments, with further plans to conduct additional viewing of an area the Curiosity team has dubbed the Miraflores butte, which features a small knob-like prominence.

Additional viewing was planned for the nearby Cordillera mesa as well, although much of the rover’s work has remained focused on the unique polygon-shaped structures.

“After driving further towards the upper boundary of the light-toned, polygon-covered unit, the three-sol Friday plan included APXS and MAHLI measurements of another polygon ridge and one of the dark-toned cobbles,” Farrand’s update at the Curiosity blog noted.

This particular cobble, which the Curiosity team has dubbed “Cortadera,” was studied using the rover’s ChemCam instrument, which was also used in observations of the aforementioned features, and others in the nearby Martian terrain.

In the days ahead, Curiosity is expected to traverse another area where dark-colored materials are present based on previous orbital reconnaissance, which may provide additional clues about their origins, and the intriguing features in the area where the rover’s current investigations are focused.

Additional details can be found at NASA’s Curiosity blog.

Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. A longtime reporter on science, defense, and technology with a focus on space and astronomy, he can be reached at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow him on X @MicahHanks, and at micahhanks.com.

NASA’s Curiosity rover and its mission to investigate whether Mars could have ever supported microbial life have taken one step closer to achieving its goal, with one of the most significant discoveries in the ongoing search for evidence of life on the Red Planet.

While exploring Gale Crater, NASA’s robotic rover uncovered a sample in 2020 and, using a chemical technique, determined that 21 carbon-based molecules were preserved in the clay-rich sedimentary rock. This also included seven that had never been identified on Mars before. 

While the discovery does not definitively point to life on the Red Planet, it does strengthen the case that Mars has the chemical conditions to support life. 

According to scientists, the most remarkable aspect of the discovery is not the molecules themselves, but their preservation

“The actual organic components they found are not strong evidence for life,” said Texas A&M University astrobiologist and geobiologist Dr. Michael Tice in a statement. Tice acknowledged that these compounds may also have evolved through abiotic processes, including formation in meteorites or other non-biological pathways.

“These organics were likely preserved in the rocks for a very long time, possibly billions of years, despite radiation and other harsh conditions on Mars,” Tice said.

“It blows my mind.”

Building Blocks of Life

Organic molecules are critical building blocks of life, but they can also form through non-biological processes, such as geological reactions or meteorite delivery. Similar preserved compounds on Earth help scientists study ancient environments, and their discovery on Mars provides new clues about the planet’s billion-year-old history.

“Studying how those compounds vary between different rocks can tell a story of how life and environments changed,” Tice recently said in a statement issued by Texas A&M. “Finding organics stored in similar ways on Mars tells us that there could be similar stories preserved there as well.”

The findings also suggest that Martian rocks may contain evidence from a time before life began, a record of sorts that Earth’s past geology has mostly erased.

“It is even possible that some Mars rocks will tell us about times when there was no life there,” he said, with organics formed instead through prebiotic chemistry or delivered from space. “We do not have an equivalent record of such a time preserved on Earth.”

The findings build on earlier research by Tice and his team that identified possible biosignatures in Mars rocks studied by NASA’s Perseverance rover. 

Tice suggests, “When we looked even closer, we saw things that are easy to explain with early Martian life but very difficult to explain with only geological processes.”

The rocks contained organic carbon and key elements connected to microbial energy sources, along with chemical patterns that may show redox reactions (processes often associated with life on Earth).

“With the right collection, we could find the next step in evidence for past life on Mars or learn about the kinds of processes that eventually led to life on our planet.”

Tice and his colleagues will continue their work exploring the Martian land. 

“I’m continuing to study the record of early Martian evolution as part of the PIXL instrument team on the Perseverance rover,” he said.

“In addition, I’m comparing how organisms affected some of the oldest sediments on Earth — now preserved in rocks in South Africa—with the potential biosignatures we discovered on Mars.”

Additional details about Tice and his team’s work can be found in a pair of papers, “Diverse organic molecules on Mars revealed by the first SAM TMAH experiment,” which appeared in Nature Communications, and “Redox-driven mineral and organic associations in Jezero Crater, Mars,” which was published in the journal Nature.