The winners and the losers

• Winner: It may be that NASA hasn't had this much excitement since the first man landed on the moon. A probe dug below the surface of Mars this week and scooped up ice, as in frozen water — an essential element for the existence of life. The next step will be to thaw it out in a specially designed oven, then examine its makeup. The probe is unlikely to find any little green men running around, but this undoubtedly will help earthlings understand their universe better.

• Loser: Pay attention to the road. That was the sad lesson this week for a teenage driver who tried to capture her escaped pet gerbil, which was running loose in the car, while driving state Route 51 in Springville. Her car slammed two parked trucks together and broke the legs of two people standing between them.

• Winner: Provo's airport soon will get a radar system, which will help guide pilots through bad weather and better coordinate air travel to and from Salt Lake International Airport. The cost of the system will be split by the city and the Federal Aviation Administration. Given Utah County's impressive growth rate, Provo's airport needs to position itself to handle more serious traffic in the future.