buff.ly/3tMABzd Scientists have been analyzing recent data collected by NASA’s Curiosity rover that has led to headlines everywhere being less than circumspect and a little clickbait-y. While analyzing samples taken from the Highfield drill hole on Vera Rubin Ridge in Gale Crater, researchers found what they have deemed an “intriguing” carbon signature. They found that the powder in this sample was strongly depleted in carbon 13, one of two stable carbon isotopes. Here on Earth, depletion of this sort can be caused by the ultraviolet degradation of biological methane. Now, about those headlines. Yes, on Earth, we see a depletion of carbon 13 due to the breakdown of biogenic methane, whose composition is CH4 — one carbon to four hydrogen. The methane is broken down, and the carbon escapes into the atmosphere. However, there are two other possibilities for this process: a cosmic dust cloud or that same ultraviolet breakdown but of carbon dioxide instead of methane. And carbon d...