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Scientists studying the surface of Mars recently found a piece of the rocky planet smiling back at them.

In an image shared Jan. 25 by The University of Arizona (opens in new tab) (UA), what appears to be the face of an enormous Martian teddy bear — complete with two beady eyes, a button nose and an upturned mouth — grins at the camera of NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). According to UA, this photo of an uncanny assortment of geological formations was snapped on Dec. 12, 2022, as the MRO cruised roughly 156 miles (251 kilometers) above the Red Planet. 

What’s really going on here? It’s likely just a broken-up hill in the center of an ancient crater, according to a statement posted to UA’s High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera blog.

“There’s a hill with a V-shaped collapse structure (the nose), two craters (the eyes), and a circular fracture pattern (the head),” the statement reads. “The circular fracture pattern might be due to the settling of a deposit over a buried impact crater.” 

Viewers may see a bear’s face emerge from a collection of dusty rocks and crevices thanks to a phenomenon called pareidolia, a psychological tendency that leads people to find significance in random images or sounds.Related stories—Listen to a Martian dust storm engulf the Perseverance rover in eerie, world-first audio recording

—See Mars ‘peek out’ from behind the moon in stunning eclipse photo

—Colossal ‘planet killer’ asteroid sparked mega-tsunami on Mars, and now we know where it landed

Space provides endless fodder for pareidolia. Take this nebula (a random outflow of gas and dust) that sort of looks like the city-smashing monster Godzilla, or this Martian rock formation that NASA briefly mistook for the meeping Muppet Beaker.

Both Beaker and the newly discovered Martian teddy bear were imaged by HiRISE, which is one of six science instruments on board the MRO. HiRISE has been snapping pictures of the Red Planet from orbit since 2006 and, according to UA, is the most powerful camera ever sent to another planet.

More incredible images — and perhaps more cuddly-wuddly faces — surely await just over the Martian horizon.

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Sports

Ohio State-Michigan live updates: Wolverines trying for five straight

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November 29, 2025

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Ohio State-Michigan live updates: Wolverines trying for five straight

Rivalry Week has already seen one upset that will affect a conference championship and College Football Playoff seeding. Could we see another one?

On Friday, Texas upset the Texas A&M Aggies to give A&M its first loss of the season and knock the Aggies out of the SEC championship game. Michigan is in a strikingly similar position. Ohio State is undefeated and No. 1 in the CFP rankings. It needs a win to set up a meeting with Indiana in next week’s Big Ten title game.

OSU has been largely unchallenged since defeating Texas in Week 1, and now it faces its biggest rival, which is hasn’t beaten in four years. Can the Wolverines pull another upset? It’s “The Game,” and we’re tracking the top moments and biggest plays:

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Politics

Crypto self-custody is a fundamental right, says SEC’s Hester Peirce

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November 29, 2025

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Crypto self-custody is a fundamental right, says SEC's Hester Peirce

Hester Peirce, a commissioner of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and head of the SEC’s Crypto Task Force, reaffirmed the right to crypto self-custody and privacy in financial transactions.

“I’m a freedom maximalist,” Peirce told The Rollup podcast on Friday, while saying that self-custody of assets is a fundamental human right. She added:

“Why should I have to be forced to go through someone else to hold my assets? It baffles me that in this country, which is so premised on freedom, that would even be an issue — of course, people can hold their own assets.”

Privacy, SEC, Freedom, United States, Self Custody, Bitcoin Adoption, ETF
SEC commissioner Hester Peirce discusses the right to self-custody and financial privacy. Source: The Rollup

Peirce added that online financial privacy should be the standard. “It has become the presumption that if you want to keep your transactions private, you’re doing something wrong, but it should be exactly the opposite presumption,” she said.

The comments came as the Digital Asset Market Structure Clarity Act, a crypto market structure bill that includes provisions for self-custody, anti-money laundering(AML) regulations, and asset taxonomy, is delayed until 2026, according to Senator Tim Scott.

Related: SEC to hold privacy and financial surveillance roundtable in December

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) challenge Bitcoin’s self-custody ethos

Many large Bitcoin (BTC) whales and long-term holders are pivoting from self-custody to ETFs to reap the tax benefits and hassle-free management of owning crypto in an investment vehicle.

“We are witnessing the first decline in self-custodied Bitcoin in 15 years,” Dr. Martin Hiesboeck, the head of research at crypto exchange Uphold, said.