Speculation that life has been discovered beyond Earth exploded on the Internet after NASA announced plans for a briefing involving scientists who study unusual life forms.
The briefing, set for Thursday, focuses on a paper being published in the journal Science, which has not been made public.
But when it is released, the paper will be a disappointment to those speculating about its contents. It does not report finding life outside of Earth, according to science writers who have seen the paper.
Cheers
PS: There's a 'General Chat' thread about the same topic, for those wanting to chat about this one.
"A team of astronomers, including two NASA Sagan Fellows, has made the first characterizations of a super-Earth's atmosphere, by using a ground-based telescope. A super-Earth is a planet up to three times the size of Earth and weighing up to 10 times as much. The findings, reported in the Dec. 2 issue of the journal Nature, are a significant milestone toward eventually being able to probe the atmospheres of Earth-like planets for signs of life."
Eventually. Look, these are all milestones, but fair dinkum has NASA got a death wish? Big announcement that will change the way we look for extraterrestrial life? Press conference beamed live to the world? Embargo on publishing of scientific paper until after press conference? Sheesh I just hope the journos got grog...
Ah dunno … we still don't know what the paper has to say.
At the moment, all comments about the topic, and the delivery method chosen (by NASA), are just speculation.
Craig, you've gotta relax mate! It's about the circumstances of the announcement, not the paper. Sometimes the quest for papered perfection can leave one blind to the fascinating play of human psychology in the realm of funded science. That's the real story here!
NASA announces new finding: "We were able to find gravy still in the packet in Bi-Lo", according to the team they weren't able to detect what brand of gravy or even if it is indeed gravy.
