Sorry folks, this is a bunch of bull crap. I mean look at the source, Fox News, that should be a dead giveaway right there and the "Journal of Cosmology" is not a real scientific journal either. Check out the link for a further examination: http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/03/did_scientists_discover_bacter.php
NASA Scientist Claims to Have Found Evidence of Extraterrestrial Life
- Thread starter John Funk
- Start date
I think you're mistaking skepticism for pessimism. As a person familiar with the process of vetting and peer reviewing papers, I can tell you that this guy sounds like Peter Molyneaux at his worst. The number of "first time ever in the history of science" lines just in the article here, for such a mundane thing (hmm, maybe a little Guitar-Hero-Promoting Bobby Kotick thrown in there as well) just screamed at me that this was going to get shot down, burned, buried, encased in cement, and shot into the sun within days.Saulkar said:
But that doesn't matter. They posted their outrageous claim, the news got a hold of it, and now it's another in a long line of this stupid, stupid cycle that the media just seems incapable of recognizing.
As for life, it's a very safe bet that it's out there. In fact there's a good chance one of Saturn's moons has its own. However, if you want -Skinned Space Babes, you'll probably have to wait until genetically modified skin color becomes popular among our own species.
I guesse we aren't alone.
There's other things out there that we didn't realize existed.
Don't tell me.
The sky is falling.
Sea's are turning red.
C'thulu's coming.
Tommy Wisuea is a good actor.
No seriously, I was insanely fascinated by this.
There's other things out there that we didn't realize existed.
Don't tell me.
The sky is falling.
Sea's are turning red.
C'thulu's coming.
Tommy Wisuea is a good actor.
No seriously, I was insanely fascinated by this.
So suppose this is 100% scientifically vetted, for example its not a carbon based life-form. I'm curious how religions, specifically Christianity and Islam, would react to aliens. If anyone is well versed in religion I would like to hear your comments. Also I am curious about the story of Genesis and how aliens work into that.
I totally get that this is a monumental discovery, but...
am I alone in thinking... DUH!? Why would our tiny chunk of rock be the only one in the entire UNIVERSE to have some form of life? That sounds way weirder than discovering otherwise.
am I alone in thinking... DUH!? Why would our tiny chunk of rock be the only one in the entire UNIVERSE to have some form of life? That sounds way weirder than discovering otherwise.
I read the article and got excited, then I read the counter article posted below in the update. I believe the counter article has more credit and kills this claim. I mean first of it was first shown to Faux News before it was to be published (lol wat) and they claim to have found no nitrogen in the supposed alien lifeforms (how is that possible? nitrogen=life). While I whole-heartily believe in other lifeforms existing outside of our own planet, I am a difficult skeptic to convince. I seriously believe that the scientific community is going to rip this claim a new one. Here's hoping for the opposite though 
Well, you have to understand that Academia is pretty cutthroat and there are just as many people who have a stake in disproving things like extraterrestrial life as do in proving it. Not to mention concerns by those in power about not wanting to jump at even clear evidence, spend a ton of money, and then find out that some kind of mistake was made. This is to say nothing of the social order, and how many belief structures would be literally decimated by the acceptance of life off of earth... sudden, radical change being bad.
That said, the bottom line is going to be when these scientists decide to take these rocks out "on the road" so to speak and show them off person-to-person with the electron microscopes. The debunker mentioned in this article (as part of the update) seems to mostly be attacking the sources (Fox News, websites, etc...) rather than the work itself, other than to say that he personally disputed the claims and had trouble making things out from the pictures.
I don't expect a lot to come of this any way it goes, to be honest it seems like the kind of thing that is going to be sat on if it is for real. Not so much because of any "X-files" like conspiricy full of creepy guys in black trying to cover up evidence, but because nobody will want to put it out in public until they are sure, and it will be being poked, prodded, dissected, and battled over by career academics for decades before anyone lets anything signifigant come of it.
That said, there is a lot of strange and creepy crap out there that it seems few people want to deal with, never mind society as a whole. This will probably just be added to the list.
That said, the bottom line is going to be when these scientists decide to take these rocks out "on the road" so to speak and show them off person-to-person with the electron microscopes. The debunker mentioned in this article (as part of the update) seems to mostly be attacking the sources (Fox News, websites, etc...) rather than the work itself, other than to say that he personally disputed the claims and had trouble making things out from the pictures.
I don't expect a lot to come of this any way it goes, to be honest it seems like the kind of thing that is going to be sat on if it is for real. Not so much because of any "X-files" like conspiricy full of creepy guys in black trying to cover up evidence, but because nobody will want to put it out in public until they are sure, and it will be being poked, prodded, dissected, and battled over by career academics for decades before anyone lets anything signifigant come of it.
That said, there is a lot of strange and creepy crap out there that it seems few people want to deal with, never mind society as a whole. This will probably just be added to the list.
The reason why I'm not impressed is because the "alien microbe fossils in a meteorite" thing has been claimed and found to be a false alarm multiple times before. I'd be more impressed by a spectroscope pointed at an extrasolar planet finding that the planet's atmosphere contains ozone, water, carbon dioxide and methane. As far as we know, that's a chemical fingerprint of a world with life.stinkychops said:
If you want to read about truly scientific stories, read 'Science' or 'Nature'. If you want to read an educated take on scientific discoveries and stories, read 'New Scientist' or something similar.
If you get your science from Fox News or any news outlet, then chances are it's not science but news - big difference
If you get your science from Fox News or any news outlet, then chances are it's not science but news - big difference
*Man discovers there might be life out there*
"Sweet! I'm going to tell the world!"
*Goes to Fox News*
*No one believes him*
Big surprise...
I hope that he is right. It'd be about damn time someone discovered non-Earth life to put an end to all the speculation that has been going on for hundreds of years.
But like that doctor says, I won't believe him unless he has some pretty badass evidence that can't be refuted.
"Sweet! I'm going to tell the world!"
*Goes to Fox News*
*No one believes him*
Big surprise...
I hope that he is right. It'd be about damn time someone discovered non-Earth life to put an end to all the speculation that has been going on for hundreds of years.
But like that doctor says, I won't believe him unless he has some pretty badass evidence that can't be refuted.