Tiny 'Coral' Discovered by Rover in Martian Crater

Curiosity has just come across a new and exciting rock during its travels in the Gale Crater on Mars .

Just a few centimeters across, the tiny formation is notable for its amazing resemblance to branch corals that can be found living in Earth's oceans, or a piece of fulgurite; minerals fused in the heat of a lightning strike as it slams into the ground.

Mars, of course, has no surface oceans (at least, not any more ), and the rock isn't fulgurite – but it is a fascinating testament to the way the same patterns repeat in different contexts throughout the Universe, from the micro-scale to the cosmic.

The strange formation is, actually, a product of a once-wet environment. Water seeping through cracks in the bedrock carried dissolved minerals, depositing it therein as the water d