A manned mission to Mars will inevitably consist of a few people living in incredibly close quarters in a constantly stressful environment.

Starting next summer, Mars Society will be conducting a mock Mars mission in the Canadian Arctic. Six participants will live in a facility 7.6 meters tall (25 feet) and 8.3 meters wide (27 feet). For one full year, they will perform a great deal of geological experiments similar to work that would be done on Mars. Spacesuits will be worn to help simulate Mars-like conditions.

Though similar studies have been done in the past, this is the most stressful and will be more true to actual conditions on Mars. The goal of the experiment is to determine leadership structure and what equipment will be necessary. ...

The chrysalis of the Metallic Mechanitis butterfly from Costa Rica.

Developed in the University of California, Berkeley, lab of Daniel Fletcher, the CellScope, here trained on an algae sample, turns the camera of a standard cell phone into a diagnostic-quality microscope with a magnification of 5x–60x.

Funnily enough, our planet apparently did once have rings. According to current theories, millions of years ago a planet-sized body called Theia collided with Earth. A huge amount of material from Earth was blown up into orbit by the impact, where it formed a ring. Because this material was orbiting outside of earth's Roche limit, it eventually coalesced into the Moon.

These illustrations by Ron Miller show what our skies would look like if we had rings that were the same proportional size and position as Saturn's. ...

The Amazonian giant centipede is the largest centipede alive, reaching lengths of 30 centimeters. They are carnivorous and feed on lizards, snakes, mice, and even bats. While their venom is not enough to kill an adult human, it may cause reactions with the skin.

Two new species of spiders have been discovered in China, and neither of them are bigger than a grain of sand. They live in the damp litter of the forest, which is why they had gone unnoticed for so long. Both species are part of the Mysmenidae family, which are somewhat poorly understood orb-weaving spiders. Mysmena wawuensis (top) measures 0.75 mm, while Trogloneta yuensis (bottom) is 1.01 mm.

Blunt headed tree snakes, a genus of colubrid snakes found in Mexico, Central America, and the northern part of South America.

From vanilla to barbecue to fruit loops, many male butterflies have a distinct smell, known to scientists as pheromones, used to attract females. These pheromones are produced in specialized scales on the wings and are often wafted over females during courtship by flapping. The smells are often oddly familiar to humans, and Opsiphanes butterflies (as seen here) can leave you desiring a piece of cake after catching one in the Amazon.