Technologies

NASA Mars Rover Carves Screaming Face Into the Planet’s Surface

Like an otherworldly Edvard Munch, Perseverance creates a work of art in the Martian soil. Move over, The Scream.

This story is part of Welcome to Mars, our series exploring the red planet.

Usually when I spot faces on Mars, it’s because the local rock formations resemble them. A new face on Mars, however, is the work of NASA’s Perseverance rover. The accidental artistic masterpiece is the result of two sample collection holes combined with a wheel scuff mark. Move over, Mona Lisa.

There’s a scientific explanation for what turned out to be a serendipitously goofy portrait. The two holes are where the rover picked up samples of sandy regolith — crushed up rock and dust — as part of its growing rock collection. Percy used a special drill bit to gather and stash the samples in hopes of sending them back to Earth for future study.

The wheel scuff came from a little earlier in the mission. The rover team commanded Percy to make the mark to get a look at the regolith below the surface. They liked what they saw and returned to the spot to collect the samples.

I’m not the only person who saw a face in the Martian ground after Percy got done with the sampling site. Rover engineer Daniel Zayas had a delightful interpretation, likening the shape to a Yip Yip from Sesame Street. If you need a refresher, Yip Yips are big-mouthed, googly-eyed aliens from Mars, so it couldn’t be more perfect.

Most of Percy’s samples up to this point have been drilled out of rock, so the regolith is special. Scientists would love to get a closer look at the material in a lab. «If we have a more permanent presence on Mars, we need to know how the dust and regolith will interact with our spacecraft and habitats,» Perseverance team member Erin Gibbons said in a NASA statement this week.

Gibbons had also noted the resemblance to a face, sharing another rover shot with a close-up of the «eyes» on Twitter.

The face is an excellent example of pareidolia, the human tendency to see familiar objects in random shapes. It happens all the time on Mars, with recent examples of a duck rock and a loaf-shaped cat. It’s all in good fun. We have no evidence of aliens hanging out carving Earth-shaped things into the local rocks on Mars.

While Percy’s artwork is sublime, the rover probably shouldn’t quit its day job as a mobile robotic laboratory.

Technologies

Apple’s iPhone 17 Event Is Today. Here’s How to Watch

Apple’s «awe dropping» keynote is hours away. Here are the products and updates we expect to see.

Apple’s annual fall iPhone launch event is here. The keynote kicks off at 10 a.m. PT. Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 17 lineup, which could include a slimmer version of the phone, as well as the Apple Watch Series 11 and the AirPods Pro 3.

The invite, which Apple sent on Aug. 26, shows the title «awe dropping,» with a dynamic Apple logo that seems to reference Siri’s colorful glow.

There’s also an interactive element when you view the invite on Apple.com. With a finger (phone or tablet) or a mouse/trackpad pointer (computer), you can move across the logo and watch the colors go from a cool blue to a vivid orange, possibly evoking the Liquid Glass design element in iOS 26, which exhibits light-bending qualities across apps and functions. You can read more theories about what the fall event invite might signify.

The keynote will be held at Apple Park in Cupertino, California. CNET will be covering the announcements live, so be sure to follow along.

Get ready for an awe dropping #AppleEvent on Tuesday, September 9! pic.twitter.com/uAcYp2RLMM

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) August 26, 2025

How to watch Apple’s iPhone 17 reveal

Technically, Apple has yet to confirm the iPhone 17, but the company typically unveils its latest handsets at its fall event.

You can tune into the iPhone 17 event by watching the official livestream on Apple’s website or via the livestream on Apple’s YouTube channel. Those streams are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET. CNET’s reporters will also be on the ground and bringing you all the updates.

What might Apple be cooking up?

Rumors for the upcoming slate of iPhones have been plentiful. Stealing the spotlight is the supposed iPhone 17 Air, which could follow in the footsteps of Samsung’s sleek Galaxy S25 Edge and have a slim profile and lightweight design. The Pro model could get a scratch-resistant, antireflective display and an 8x telephoto lens, and the Pro Max could pack a bigger battery. The baseline iPhone 17 could also boast a higher refresh rate. It’s possible that all the phones may include an Apple-developed 5G modem called the C1 chip, which debuted on the iPhone 16E, as well as in-house Wi-Fi chips.

We also expect to learn more about the public rollout of iOS 26 later this fall. The new operating system features a Liquid Glass interface that brings a more transparent, lens-like look to the iPhone and other Apple devices. The Camera app also gets a more minimalistic design, Messages lets you create polls in group chats and a new screening tool can better detect spam texts. You can check out all the features coming to iOS 26.

Will there be a Siri overhaul?

What we might not hear as much about is the updated version of Siri that Apple unveiled at its Worldwide Developers Conference last year. The smarter version of the AI assistant has faced repeated delays and may not arrive until next year. But Apple could discuss other Apple Intelligence updates and features arriving on its new devices.

Watch CNET’s livestream

CNET’s reporters will be on the ground, bringing you all the latest updates and impressions of whatever Apple has in store. You can watch our livestream here starting at 9:30 a.m. PT/12:30 p.m. ET:

Technologies

Hollow Knight: Silksong Includes a Secret Konami Code Easter Egg

Don’t try to enter this code unless you want a serious challenge.

Hollow Knight: Silksong isn’t an easy game, but that difficulty is one of the reasons why fans love it. There are likely some in the fanbase who might even feel it’s too easy, and for them, developer Team Cherry added the most famous of cheat codes to the game, although it doesn’t give you 30 lives.

The famous Konami Code, best known for its inclusion in the NES game Contra, does work in Silksong, but it will make the game far harder, not easier. The secret was found not long after the game came out on Thursday over at the Silksong subreddit. A variation of the code can be inputted in the Extras section of the title screen to unlock the Steel Soul mode on a new playthrough. The description of the unlocked mode says, «No reviving. Death is permanent.»

As the description suggests, Steel Soul is a permadeath mode, meaning that once you die, it’s game over and your save is wiped. Considering how difficult Silksong has been even for veterans of the Hollow Knight, this option is truly for those who want the highest of challenges. It appeared in the original Hollow Knight as an optional setting made available after beating the game, but Silksong players just need to press a few buttons on the menu screen to unlock it.

The code needed to unlock Steel Mode in the Extras section of the title screen is Up, Down, Up, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right. For consoles, you will need to use the respective controller’s Dpad, while PC requires either using a controller Dpad or the arrow keys on the keyboard. There are no additional buttons to press, and when inputted correctly, the screen will flash. To activate the new much harder difficulty option, back out of the Extras screen, select Start Game, pick New Game and that will take you to the Mode Select screen where Steel Soul is now available.

The Konami Code was first used in Gradius, a shoot ’em up game made by the company and released for the NES in 1986. The full code is Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, and Start on a controller and was programmed into the game’s code by developer Kazuhisa Hashimoto as a way to test the game easily, as it added all the power-ups to the player’s ship. Hashimoto had mistakenly left the code in the NES game, and it was eventually discovered by players in the U.S.

The Konami Code is mainly remembered for its use in 1987’s Contra for the NES, which gave players 30 lives to start the game with. It has since been used in other Konami games and paid homage to by other game developers. Tech companies such as Google and Facebook have also used the code as an Easter egg in their different services over the years.

Hollow Knight: Silksong is out now on PC, Switch, Switch 2, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, PS4 and PS5. It’s also available for Xbox Game Pass subscribers.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Tuesday, Sept. 9

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Sept. 9.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Britney Spears fans, you’ll find one of her hit songs in today’s Mini Crossword. And cookie-lovers, one of our favorites is in there, too. Need answers? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.