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Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: General Battuta on March 05, 2011, 01:50:36 pm

Title: Possible positive confirmation of fossilized alien life
Post by: General Battuta on March 05, 2011, 01:50:36 pm
Props to sigtau for spotting this first. (http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/03/05/exclusive-nasa-scientists-claims-evidence-alien-life-meteorite/)

Tentative. Let's see if it pans out.


EDIT: and of course Fox, so let's not go nuts yet.
Title: Re: Possible positive confirmation of fossilized alien life
Post by: sigtau on March 05, 2011, 01:51:45 pm
And if this doesn't keel over like the arsenic-based life discovery did, we're not alone.

Not much else to be said other than 'we'll see'.
Title: Re: Possible positive confirmation of fossilized alien life
Post by: redsniper on March 05, 2011, 02:00:38 pm
:eek:
Title: Re: Possible positive confirmation of fossilized alien life
Post by: General Battuta on March 05, 2011, 02:05:41 pm
The journal looks kinda shady. :colbert:
Title: Re: Possible positive confirmation of fossilized alien life
Post by: Snail on March 05, 2011, 02:47:36 pm
I, for one, welcome our new microscopic overlords.
Title: Re: Possible positive confirmation of fossilized alien life
Post by: achtung on March 05, 2011, 03:53:21 pm
Skepticism is necessary, but I can't deny I hope the researcher turns out to be right. :)
Title: Re: Possible positive confirmation of fossilized alien life
Post by: PsychoLandlord on March 05, 2011, 04:28:55 pm
I would be ecstatic if he's right, but like the  article stated, this has been claimed before then panned out. And also Fox.

Would be awesome though.
Title: Re: Possible positive confirmation of fossilized alien life
Post by: DarkBasilisk on March 05, 2011, 05:04:22 pm
From what i've heard from a friend there is a serious problem in that bacterial rarely leave behind 'fossils.' What they're looking at in these meteors is little bits of organic compounds and molecules. Which *could* mean bacteria but it's hardly an 'if an only if' relationship. It's certainly strange and significant that stuff is there in the first place, but... they're jumping to conclusions a bit.
Title: Re: Possible positive confirmation of fossilized alien life
Post by: Eishtmo on March 05, 2011, 06:14:55 pm
It's on FauxNews.

Don't you believe it.
Title: Re: Possible positive confirmation of fossilized alien life
Post by: Nuclear1 on March 05, 2011, 06:20:13 pm
It's on FauxNews.

Don't you believe it.
Even true things, once said on Fox News, become lies. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7byeNACr1P0)
Title: Re: Possible positive confirmation of fossilized alien life
Post by: achtung on March 07, 2011, 12:16:44 pm
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/07/us-meteorites-life-idUSTRE7252KQ20110307

It's moved beyond fox.
Title: Re: Possible positive confirmation of fossilized alien life
Post by: General Battuta on March 07, 2011, 12:21:58 pm
Still the same source, unfortunately.
Title: Re: Possible positive confirmation of fossilized alien life
Post by: Solatar on March 07, 2011, 01:12:46 pm
I haven't taken a look through them all yet, but this appears to be where the commentaries on the research will be published first:

http://journalofcosmology.com/Life101.html


If they're going to be making the case for something this controversial, the least they could do is make their website look academic/professional. :p
Title: Re: Possible positive confirmation of fossilized alien life
Post by: General Battuta on March 07, 2011, 01:20:45 pm
I haven't taken a look through them all yet, but this appears to be where the commentaries on the research will be published first:

http://journalofcosmology.com/Life101.html


If they're going to be making the case for something this controversial, the least they could do is make their website look academic/professional. :p

It's clearly a farce, and it's actually going out of business.
Title: Re: Possible positive confirmation of fossilized alien life
Post by: Bobboau on March 07, 2011, 01:46:38 pm
wow welcome to 1994.
Title: Re: Possible positive confirmation of fossilized alien life
Post by: Solatar on March 07, 2011, 01:56:14 pm
I haven't taken a look through them all yet, but this appears to be where the commentaries on the research will be published first:

http://journalofcosmology.com/Life101.html


If they're going to be making the case for something this controversial, the least they could do is make their website look academic/professional. :p

It's clearly a farce, and it's actually going out of business.

I hate to go straight to Wikipedia, BUT:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journal_of_Cosmology

This journal doesn't look too much more reputable than Fox News itself (for different reasons, of course).

EDIT:  Reading through some of the other "top articles" is making me lose confidence amazingly quickly.

Quote
Only those who cling to the Biblical explanation found in Genesis, chapter 1, where we are told Earth has special life-generating powers, and those who believe Earth is at the center of the biological universe, would dispute the conclusive scientific evidence detailed in this text.

You can force false dichotomies in academic literature now?  :rolleyes:

Quote
Evolution is not random but is instead the replication of creatures which long ago lived on other planets.

. . .
Title: Re: Possible positive confirmation of fossilized alien life
Post by: General Battuta on March 07, 2011, 02:02:47 pm
Yes, thus the farce.
Title: Re: Possible positive confirmation of fossilized alien life
Post by: Solatar on March 07, 2011, 02:05:01 pm
I'm enjoying this one. :D
Title: Re: Possible positive confirmation of fossilized alien life
Post by: Mika on March 07, 2011, 02:10:51 pm
Here's a rather nasty review of the Journal and of the article itself.

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/03/did_scientists_discover_bacter.php

The guy has tried to publish (/ already published?) the same thing in SPIE, 2007.

EDIT: NASA publicly withdraws from the paper. Source: http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=32928, which refers back to NASA, but I couldn't find this from their main page.
Title: Re: Possible positive confirmation of fossilized alien life
Post by: Solatar on March 07, 2011, 02:59:14 pm
Here's a rather nasty review of the Journal and of the article itself.

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/03/did_scientists_discover_bacter.php

The guy has tried to publish (/ already published?) the same thing in SPIE, 2007.

EDIT: NASA publicly withdraws from the paper. Source: http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=32928, which refers back to NASA, but I couldn't find this from their main page.


Good link.  :yes:
Title: Re: Possible positive confirmation of fossilized alien life
Post by: watsisname on March 07, 2011, 03:23:04 pm
Woooooooow....

http://journalofcosmology.com/Cosmology8.html (http://journalofcosmology.com/Cosmology8.html)

This is some of the most hilariously bad science I've ever read.

Paraphrasing:
Quote
"HURRR, the inner ear is spiral shaped, durrr, hurricanes are spiral shaped, omg GALAXIES ARE SPIRAL SHAPED, wait a minute, maybe all of the universe is a bigass spiral of galaxies orbiting a black hole!  Yeah, that totally explains cosmological redshift, too, so this must be right!

/me bangs head against desk repeatedly
Title: Re: Possible positive confirmation of fossilized alien life
Post by: Solatar on March 07, 2011, 03:32:52 pm
A very old, very burnt out river guide I know uses similar logic.  He always mumbles about fractals (he refers to the same patterns mentioned in that article) and chaos theory.  That's really as far as he usually gets, but it's still amusing. He might also represent this journal's main audience.
Title: Re: Possible positive confirmation of fossilized alien life
Post by: Kolgena on March 07, 2011, 05:33:08 pm
That snippet reminds me of TTGL. Pierce the heavens, yo.
Title: Re: Possible positive confirmation of fossilized alien life
Post by: Ravenholme on March 07, 2011, 06:28:36 pm
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/03/07/followup-thoughts-on-the-meteorite-fossils-claim/ (http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/03/07/followup-thoughts-on-the-meteorite-fossils-claim/)

Dunno if this has been posted, but...

Sorry guys, it's not looking good.
Title: Re: Possible positive confirmation of fossilized alien life
Post by: redsniper on March 07, 2011, 06:47:05 pm
That snippet reminds me of TTGL. Pierce the heavens, yo.
**** yeah spiral power!