Scientists claim they may have discovered something “earthshaking on Mars. Wut, wut.

Scientists may have found something tremendous in the soil upon the Red Planet. While they’re double-checking and quadruple verifying their date, they have also begun to leak their excitement to the press.

io9:

The Mars Science Laboratory team has hinted that they might have some big news to share soon. But like good scientists, they are waiting until they verify their results before saying anything definitive. In an interview on NPR today, MSL Principal Investigator John Grotzinger said a recent soil sample test in the SAM instrument (Sample Analysis at Mars) shows something “earthshaking.”

“This data is gonna be one for the history books,” he said. “It’s looking really good.”
What could it be?

SAM is designed to investigate the chemical and isotopic composition of the Martian atmosphere and soil. In particular, SAM is looking for organic molecules, which is important in the search for life on Mars. Life as we know it cannot exist without organic molecules; however they can exist without life. SAM will be able to detect lower concentrations of a wider variety of organic molecules than any other instrument yet sent to Mars