My grandfather used to have a saying whenever he’d hear something amazing (good news or bad). He’d shake his head and say, “By golly, that’s really the berries.” I thought about that when I saw the first pictures of Martian “berries” come down from the Opportunity Rover. He’d probably have said that if he’d lived long enough to see what we’ve been seeing on Mars this past few weeks.

It has been amazing. I don’t think anybody could have predicted these little berry-shaped things scattered all over the place. To me they look like hardened dustballs or maybe little crystals that have bounced along the surface, maybe pushed along by the winds. I’ve seen others speculate that they’re tektites — pieces of glass formed when a large meteorite strikes the Earth. (You can read more about tektites here.) I’m looking forward to hearing about the geologic analysis of these things once the mission scientists have had a chance to examine more images of them.