As the month-long time limit on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370's battery powered "ping"-emitting black boxes comes close to an end, a Chinese patrol ship searching the southern Indian Ocean as part of the multinational search effort discovered a pulse signal that may (or may not!) lead them to the missing jet.

The signal, picked up on Saturday, had a frequency 37.5Hz per second, which Anish Patel — president of Dukane Seacom, manufacturer of the pingers in question — said is "the standard beacon frequency" for both the cockpit and flight data recorders. Although the report seems hopeful (as hopeful as anything has seemed regarding Flight 370), there is still a good chance that this discovery won't lead to the end of the search. AP reports that it was "not determined whether the signal was related to the missing jet," and oceanographer Simon Boxall told CNN that the frequency is used by a number of different of instruments.

At a media briefing in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's defense minister Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters that, no matter the cost or time, Malaysia would not give up the search. "I can only speak for Malaysia, and Malaysia will not stop looking for MH370."

[Photo credit: AP]