A surreal photo of Ethiopia's Danakil Depression is stunning Reddit users, looking more like a sci-fi matte painting than a real landscape. But the viral image is doing more than grabbing attention online. It is also a reminder that one of Earth's most extreme environments may help scientists better understand both our planet's past and the search for life beyond it. What happened? On Reddit, a user posted Eric Lafforgue's photo of the Danakil D…