Alt-week 08.31.13: We're all Martians, Mega Drive music and reinventing the ruler

Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days. Some things become obsolete, some things rise to live again. Two of our stories over the fold demonstrate new tricks from old dogs. The third? Just, y'know, suggests that we're all actually from Mars. No biggie. This is alt-week.