NASA has spotted something strange and beautiful in the sands of Mars—a remarkable dune field that looks eerily similar to Morse code. And it has a message for us.

Many cryptographers throughout history have claimed that a particular code is the most-unbreakable ever written. But does a rarely-used code, invented in 1917 and briefly employed during World War II, have a potential claim to the throne?

A 13th-century Viking code that has eluded scholars was finally cracked by a runologist working at the University of Oslo. So, what was the secret message? "Kiss me."

Ask MetaFilter member JannaK presented the community with a puzzle that had been troubling her family for nearly 20 years. Her grandmother died in 1996 from cancer and in her last days she scribbled down a seemingly non-sensical string of characters on index cards. Nobody knew what it all meant. Then the Metafilter…

The breaking of the Enigma Code is one of the most interesting stories in the history of computing—but it's not necessarily easy to get your head around. Fortunately, this video provides an amazingly straightforward explanation of how the code was cracked.

The secret rituals of an 18-Century German occultists have been revealed. The New York Times reports that an exceptional language nerd cracked their code. It sounds like something straight out of Hellboy, except with fewer fights and more computers.

The only thing creepier than the Zodiac killer calling himself the "Zodiac killer" and murdering a lot of people in the 60s was his trademark codes. And 40 years later, most of them remain unsolved. Unless you ask this guy.

Pity the doomed Confederate leader Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton. Nearly a century and a half ago he and his embattled men waited for an encoded message to arrive detailing their reinforcements. Unfortunately for him, the message arrived in 2010.

After being trialled in Moldova (yes, I had to look it up too), UK carrier Orange has launched HD Voice in the UK today, which uses the AMR-WB codec for higher-quality calls and reduction of background noise.