Looks like all is not well for Richard Hoover’s claims of having discovered alien life. Since that story broke, it has gathered a lot of attention, both positive and negative. Reactions from the scientific community are starting to come in, and the news is bad for those of us who, like Fox Mulder before us, want to believe.
“NASA cannot stand behind or support a scientific claim unless it has been peer-reviewed or thoroughly examined by other qualified experts,” NASA’s Paul Hertz said in a statement. “This paper was submitted in 2007 to the International Journal of Astrobiology. However, the peer review process was not completed for that submission.”
“If Hoover wants to be taken seriously by the community of astrobiologists, he needs to publish this in a real journal and to respond to the criticisms from other scientists,” NASA astrobiologist David Morrison said in an e-mail and on a NASA web site.
Oh well. It was a nice dream while it lasted. NASA’s just not having much luck lately when it comes to identifying exotic life, is it? I suppose the other way to look at it is this:
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas Edison
There’s plenty of space out there to search. Just because a couple of attempts to identify alien life have failed doesn’t mean they all will. I, for one, will be leaving my “I Want to Believe” poster up right where it is.
(via Contra Costa Times)
