From verifying hunches to discovering entirely new organisms, I typically think of science as doing the impossible. NASA has had a long history of this, and they recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of successfully sending a probe to another planet. Up to this point, planets were only observed through telescopes and abstract mathematical equations. This makes it especially hard to observe planets such as Venus, which is consistently covered with clouds. Sending a probe to beam back images as well as atmospheric information helped us to further understand our neighbor as well as our own planet, as the high temperatures of Venus are potentially due to global warming on Venus.

For more information and an audio story, check out the NPR article here.