Speaking as a scientist, this article certainly reeks of media hype. It does make it sound as if the presence of an ancient river would almost guarantee that lifww we was present. Of course that’s garbage. The likelihood that life emerged on ancient Mars is pretty low. Combine that fact with the fact that these are small samples of Martian soil. This means that even if there had been life on Mars there is a good chance that these samples would not show any evidence of that.
The mission to return these samples to Earth is a complex and interesting one with plenty of engineering challenges to overcome. That should be interesting enough as it is; we shouldn’t need to hype the idea that these samples might contain evidence of Martian life. If they do, we will find out when (assuming a successful mission) the samples are brought back and studied.
Even simple life is incredibly complex. The more we learn the LESS the “primordial soup” theory seems credible. Every first step into anything approaching life needs laboratory conditions to sustain viability. Earth seems conducive to life only because we are billions of years away from its chaotic childhood. If you can ever secure a bet about Mars having life levy the farm and vote no.