OK. We can all take a breath now. All but you, Curiosity.

Partly that’s because Curiosity is marooned on a planet whose thin, frigid, oxygen-poor atmosphere makes taking a breath all but impossible. But mostly it’s because Curiosity -- like Robbie, R2D2 and other members of the robot pantheon -- is fundamentally incapable of inhaling in the first place

Of course, it was Curiosity that got us in this fine mess to begin with.

For about a week, we here on planet Earth waited with bated breath to find out what historic discovery NASA’s interplanetary probe had dug up -- perhaps literally -- out of the Martian soil.

Well, it turned out the discovery wasn’t historic at all. In fact, it was more reminder than discovery. What’s more, it had little to do with Mars. It was more about the human race -- how easily seduced we are by history and how shabbily seducers can treat their conquests.

It began with a simple interview conducted by a National Public Radio reporter with a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. The scientist, John Grotzinger, was talking about the data streaming back from the Martian rover’s Sample Analysis at Mars instrument and how it was going to yield remarkable discovery.

“We’re getting data back from SAM as we sit here and speak, and the data looks very interesting,” Grotzinger said.

And then he added, “This data is going to be one for the history books. It’s looking really good.”

One for the history books. These are words guaranteed to get the global rumor mill churning, especially when they are spoken about a letter home from Mars. Of course, Grotzinger didn’t elaborate, but that’s often the way with scientists, who have learned through cruel, hard experience that they need to be absolutely sure of their findings before they go publicly flapping their gums.

In the meantime, the story went viral among the world’s news organizations. And we the public went on a veritable orgy of speculation on what the discovery might be. Some ground-breaking organic compound? Evidence of past Martian life? An underground reservoir of water in the Martian soil? An extra-planetary Elvis sighting?

The answer turned out to be none of the above. This particular historic discovery was a misunderstanding.

Quote No. 2 was not an elaboration on quote No. 1. When Grotzinger uttered the words “one for the history books,” he was talking about the impact of the entire mission, not one particular soil sample. He was talking about the sum total of Curiosity’s mission. He was waxing exuberant, as scientists are supposed to do.

The question is whether this will turn us off to Curiosity’s future discoveries. Will we be once burned, forever shy. How can Curiosity’s legitimate discoveries compete with the wacky speculations we cooked up out of our unrestrained imaginations?

In the meantime, what has this experience really taught us? Well, for one thing it teaches us to be leery of historic developments packaged in preliminary announcements. History seldom operates that way.

Sometimes history does give us advance warning -- as when we gathered in front of our TV sets to catch the Apollo 11 historic landing on the moon. But more often it insists on catching us by surprise -- as when passenger jets smashed like missiles into the Twin Towers or when Japanese bombers swept down on Pearl Harbor or when a fanatic with a pistol crept into the president’s box at Ford's Theater.

As for Curiosity -- I’ve seen it described variously as explorer, interplanetary ambassador and the ultimate foreign exchange student. In this case, though, I tend to see it more like a kid away at summer camp, writing home every chance it gets.

And naturally the first letters are going to be exercises in hyperbole. No week was ever more miserable, no kid was ever lonelier, and no camp was ever lamer -- it’s one for the history books.

But it’s the latter letters we have to worry about, the ones in which the kid writes us casually not to worry but we might notice a change when he gets home -- and we spend the rest of the month wondering if that will mean a new hairstyle, a new set of tattoos or membership in a gang or cult.