Internet Buzz This Week - Is There Life on Mars? (VIDEO)

Over the last few days, Internet forums and websites have been deluged with speculation over the panoramas sent back to Earth by NASA’s Spirit rover. The photo reveals a female mermaid-like creature watching the rover itself taking pictures. While alien and UFO enthusiasts are all too willing to believe that the image proves that there is life on mars, scientists have chalked it off as “pareidolia” – the phenomenon where one can visualize familiar objects in inanimate ones. The best example of pareidolia in our universe is the famous face of the “Man in the Moon.” Depending on atmospheric conditions, you can see the moon’s face as either happy or sad. However, it is just an illusion and the image is actually nothing more than craters illuminated by the sun’s rays.

The same thing happened 30 years ago in a region of Mars called Cydonia, when the Viking 1 spacecraft snapped photos of something resembling a human face. Later, photos taken by Viking 2 established that the “face” was nothing more than a rock formation.

What does NASA say about the recent controversy? “It’s a two-inch piece of rock eroded by the wind,” said NASA spokesman Dwayne Brown. “No one on the Mars Rover team is puzzled or surprised by the rock. I can guarantee you that if the alien theory had any validity, we would have a major press conference.”

Of course no one has ever believed scientists’ disclaimers about aliens since the accident at Roswell in July 1947. Weather balloon test or alien road-kill, you can keep tabs on all major space creature events at http://aliens.monstrous.com.