We know we mentioned a few days ago that NASA's Curiosity rover will be landing on Mars tonight, but our not-so-inner space geek couldn't resist posting this video briefing on the mission narrated by Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise. Nice get there, NASA! You can read more about the mission at Space.com (where you'll also find a video narrated by Wesley Crusher). And don't forget: There's a party at Fourth Avenue's Sky Bar tonight where they'll be watching the whole thing live—or as live as you can get with a 14-minute delay as the signal travels between here and Mars.

Meanwhile, Daniel Stolte of UA news brings us the local angle:

Mars rover Curiosity is the closest thing to a real geologist landing on Mars. It will explore the composition of rocks with the help of the world's largest reference database of minerals, housed at the University of Arizona in Tucson

On Aug. 5, at about 10:30 p.m., an already busy summer will kick into overdrive for University of Arizona geosciences professor Bob Downs and one of his graduate students, Shaunna Morrison. At that time ­ provided everything goes as planned ­ Curiosity, the most sophisticated exploration vehicle ever sent to another planet, will parachute toward the Martian surface faster than the speed of sound after a nine-month journey through space. And as soon as it sinks its six wheels into the red dust, the two scientists specializing in mineralogy will have not one, but two planets to deal with.

As "primary data downlink leaders" designated by NASA, Downs and Morrison are part of a team of scientists tasked with the identification of rocks that Curiosity will encounter during its two-year expedition across the floor of Gale Crater near the Martian equator.

"The Curiosity rover is the next best thing to sending a geologist to Mars," said Downs. "It carries all the necessary equipment that we would use here on Earth when we study rocks and minerals."

I feel like the commentary during NBC's Olympics coverage somehow manages to make me know less about the sports being covered, so I'm balancing that loss of knowledge with Neil deGrasse Tyson's series of tweets about what the Olympics on Mars would be like. I have no idea why he's pursuing this line of thinking, but it makes for interesting conversation fodder.

On Sunday night, NASA's latest robotic science lab, Curiosity, is scheduled to land inside Gale Crater. The wheeled buggy will build on discoveries from the Phoenix Mars Lander, which was run by the UA Lunar and Planetary Lab.

The UA has a smaller role with Curiosity, but local space science junkies will gather at Sky Bar, 536 N. Fourth Ave., to watch the touchdown. You can learn all about the mission here.

TW contributor Eric Swedlund sends the following bulletin:

Join your fellow Mars enthusiasts at Sky Bar on Sunday, Aug. 5 to view the historic landing of NASA’s most advanced planetary rover.

Sky Bar will broadcast the live feed from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on the bar’s three new high-definition Vivitek projectors and huge 120-inch screens. The festivities begin at 8:30 p.m., with the spacecraft’s entry, descent and landing scheduled to begin at 10:31 p.m.

The Mars Science Laboratory will carry instruments to analyze soil samples, rocks and the planet’s atmosphere. The ultimate goal is a further exploration of whether conditions on Mars could ever have sustained life.

The $2.5 billion MSL follows the successful mission of the University of Arizona’s Mars Phoenix Lander, NASA’s first exploratory mission led by a public university. Groundbreaking data returned from the 2008 lander suggested that liquid water has interacted with the Martian surface throughout the Red Planet’s history and into modern times.

The scorpions got here first and the nonprofit Sonoran Arthropod Studies Institute in Tucson wants to make sure they are here to stay, with their many invertebrate friends, so it hosts an annual summer conference here for bug scientists and educators. This year, the 20th annual Invertebrates in Education and Conservation Conference is at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, July 31 through August 5.

The conference is open to anyone, at a fee of $305 for the full event or $130 a day. Some field trips can be purchased individually. The conference draws about 100 attendees each year from universities and museums around the country and gives conference goers from zoos, schools and universities a chance to learn from each other.

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County will show how to build an outdoor exhibit for insect biodiversity in the interest of “citizen science” to help educators engage the public. One session is on “utilizing insects to bring success to struggling students.” Who knew? An educator from the Millstone River School will show others how this works.

Emily Francis, director of the Institute, said the conference aims to share knowledge and encourage conservation of invertebrates.

Some events are tailored to families. Others are simply aimed at making learning fun. There will be a Family Bug Hunt and Picnic on Aug. 2. On the same day, a workshop called “Ask a Bug” is scheduled. The scientists and educators have a sense of humor along with a deep commitment to biodiversity and sustainability. Unlike some of us, they aren’t afraid of scorpions and tarantulas. One area of study by these scientists is “human attitudes toward anthropoids.”

A scientist who studies the caloric intake of the Giant Jumping Stick will talk about how those calories are used effectively by the invertebrate. The St. Louis Zoo will show how local bugs can be incorporated into public displays at zoos that mostly focus on exhibiting animals with spines.

“Death Eaters,” the American Burying Beetle, and its relative, the Margined Burying Beetle, are among the topics of arthrostudies papers to be presented on Aug. 4. If you want to learn how to farm mass quantities of tarantulas economically and maintenance free, there’s a session on that, set for the same day.

One of several field trips to be offered, on Aug. 3, will take visitors to Catalina State Park, to see the “Flora and Wee Fauna” in the park. There will be a poolside insect trivia contest at 3:30 p.m. on Aug. 2. Exhibits of bugs and on bug research will be set up throughout the conference at the hotel.

Presenters are set to come from California, Oregon, Missouri, Delaware and elsewhere around the country. In earlier years, before the economic crunch, the conference attracted international attendees.

Conference T-shirts decorated with a comic illustration of a giant beetle pulling a cage filled with jeans-clad scientists is on sale online at $17.

Registration is underway and you can register up to the start of the conference online. Go to http://sasionline.org/ to register and for more information about the conference on the website of the Sonoran Arthropod Studies Institute. Or feel free to call them at 883-3945.

After all, it appears that some birds are just as good at puzzles than the under-seven crowd. I blame Dora the Explorer. I'm not sure why that show is to blame, but I'm pretty sure it is:

Researchers pitted birds against boys and girls using tests inspired by the Aesop’s fable in which a thirsty crow is able to drink from a pitcher after using pebbles to raise the water level to within its reach.

In two of the three tests at Cambridge University, the birds — Eurasian jays — did just as well as the seven-year-old children...

The experiments built on earlier work in which jays quickly learned that adding stones to a cylinder half-filled with water would bring a tasty treat floating on the surface within reach of their beaks.

In a second task the jays — colourful members of the crow family and about the same size as jackdaws — realised it was better to use pebbles, which sink, than corks, which float.

When Cambridgeshire children, aged four to ten, were set similar tasks, they did as well as the jays on the first, up to the age of seven.

It may not look like much right now, but Kitt Peak Observatory has frequently updated photos of the sun that you can view online as Venus does whatever its going to do in front of it today. It may not look like much then either, but at least you can say you didn't miss this apparently-once-in-a-lifetime event.

Local astrologer Juliana Rose Teal has written about the major astrological events taking place this year in 2012: An Astrological Perspective.

She writes, "I describe three major astrological events that take place this year, and what these events mean when happening in each of the 12 houses in a birth chart. The three events are: The Uranus/Pluto square (which means that these two planets are forming a 90 degree angle to each other in the sky, which is a stressful angle), the Venus/Sun (transit), and the Sun aligning with the Galactic Center in December."

In reference to the today's Venus transit, she writes: "Venus represents what we are drawn to in relationships, and the qualities we find important and attractive in relationships. Venus also represents our values. The Sun is who we are at the core of our being and we spent a life time working on incorporating the positive traits of our Sun sign into our personality. When these two planets meet in the sky, I believe that we will be given the opportunity to become aware of who we are within our relationships, and if we are bringing our true self into our relationships. The energy of this eclipse also provides with the ability to bring balance within our relationships as well."

For more information, visit www.hawkflightastrology.com.

On Tuesday, June 5, at approximately 3:04 p.m., the planet Venus will begin crossing the face of the sun. The most recent transit of Venus was in 2004. The next one will take place in 2117. Venus will be passing between the sun and the Earth, and from our vantage point, Venus will look like a small dot traveling across the sun. But don't view this with the naked eye. You must use special equipment.

Here is a list of special events to celebrate the transit.

Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, 7000 N. Resort Drive
Time: 3-5:30 p.m.
How much: Free and open to the public
Details: Guided by astronomy professionals, guests will look through specialized H-alpha telescopes at the Sun. The event will also include: live video feeds from NASA and Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter, lectures from cultural astronomer Richard Poss and astronomer/child author Steve Kortenkamp, kids’ activities and complimentary solar-filter viewing cards. The event will be followed by a Transit of Venus happy hour in the Cascade lounge at 5:30 p.m., featuring Chasing Venus sauvignon blanc.

University of Arizona’s Biosphere 2, 32540 S Biosphere Road
Time: 3pm – 6pm
How much: Free and open to the public.
Details: Guests will enjoy live telescope viewing of the Sun and Venus transit along with presentations by local astronomers about the importance of this event. This event is supported by the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association and the University of Arizona College of Science.
More information: More information at http://www.b2science.org..

University of Arizona, presented by Flandrau Science Center and Kuiper Space Sciences:
Time: 3pm – 8pm
How much: Free and open to the public.
Details: Viewing of the Sun and Venus Transit on the UA mall and activities for kids and adults inside the Flandrau Science Center and Kuiper Space Sciences Building, as well as live video feeds of the transit from observatories all over the world, and presentations by University of Arizona astronomers. Additional night sky viewing will follow the Venus Transit at the Flandrau Science Center. Activities will be supported by staff and volunteers from the University of Arizona College of Science, the Planetary Science Institute, the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona, and the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association.
More information: Get all the details at http://flandrau.org.

What do a millipede, a sneezing monkey and a blue tarantula have in common?

Well, not much really. Except for the fact that they're in the latest top 10 list of new species.

The list was published for the fifth year yesterday by the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University. The date coincides with the birthday of Carl Linnaeus, a botanist famous for the creation of the modern system of naming and classifying living creatures.

With more and more species becoming extinct and endangered every year, it's nice to know that there are still critters out there waiting to be discovered.

To see the complete list, visit: http://species.asu.edu/Top10

• A millipede with a common name of "wandering leg sausage"

Hosted by the UA College of Science, the gathering attracted amateur astronomers and the general public who setup on the UA Mall to look at the Sun through specialized solar filters. When Flandrau ran out of $3 solar viewing glasses people turned to welding masks, boxes turned into camera obscuras and other improvised viewing devices. As the sun began to set the crowd slowly moved to follow the light before dispersing.

Flandrau's free admission to the science center drew a large crowd, lined up to view the exhibits.