This artist's scoreboard displays a fictional game between Mars and Earth, with Mars in the lead. It refers to the success rate of sending missions to Mars, both as orbiters and landers. Of the previous 39 missions targeted for Mars from around the world, 15 have been successes and 24 failures. For baseball fans, that's a batting average of .385. The United States has had 13 successes out of 18 attempts, or a “batting average” of .722. NASA's Curiosity rover, set to land on the Red Planet the evening of Aug. 5, 2012 PDT (morning of Aug. 6 EDT), will mark the United States' 19th attempt to tackle the challenge of Mars, and the world's 40th attempt. (Image by NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Mr. Zhong Hua, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, took this image of the peripheral nerves (those outside of the brain) in an 11.5-day-old mouse embryo, magnified five times. (Photo by Zhong Hua)

In this May 3, 2016 photo provided by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, a deer with its head caught in the globe from a lighting fixture over its head stands in the woods in Centereach, N.Y. The deer was able to extricate itself with the help of Environmental Conservation Officer, Jeff Hull. Hull wrestled with the deer for a while and the globe shook free in the process. (Photo by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation via AP Photo)

A leg of a “diablito” frog (Oophaga sylvatica) is photographed in a laboratory at a laboratory in the zoo of Cali, Colombia, on July 19, 2019. Colombia is the second country with the largest number of amphibians in the world after Brazil. More than 40% of amphibian species worldwide are in danger of extinction. (Photo by Luis Robayo/AFP Photo)

An image captured by Jasmine Vink, the winner of the wildlife and animal category and overall winner in Australian Photography’s 2018 Photographer of the Year competition. (Photo by Jasmine Vink/Australia's 2018 Photographer of the Year by Panasonic)

David Yeo’s photography places naturally small species alongside animals that have been selectively bred to be tiny and cute. Here: “The most difficult aspect of this shoot was to get each African pygmy dormouse – also known as micro squirrels – on to a separate camera. Once in place, they needed to remain still long enough to get them both in the frame and looking at me. Often solitary, they naturally wanted to move away”. (Photo by David Yeo/Leica Studio Mayfair/The Guardian)

A man walks on a slackline during the 7th edition of the European “Marmotte Highline Project” (MHP) festival in Lans-en-Vercors, near Grenoble, eastern France, on July 4, 2019. The event, during which the participants will be able to evolve on the various highlines located in the Regional Natural Park of Vercors, takes place until July 7, 2019. (Photo by Philippe Desmazes/AFP Photo)

An adult periodical cicada, in the process of shedding its nymphal skin, is visible on Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Cincinnati. There are two large compound eyes, which are used to visually perceive the world around them, and three small, jewel-like, simple eyes called ocelli at center. (Photo by Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo)