When I was 7 I came up with the idea of 'charm socks.' My mom would take me to buy bags of plastic charms we would sew them on frilly white socks and I sold them at school.
A permanent base on Mars would have a number of advantages beyond being a bonanza for planetary science and geology. If as some evidence suggests exotic micro-organisms have arisen independently of terrestrial life studying them could revolutionise biology medicine and biotechnology.
