SOS: Save our Science - Yet More Alien Bacteria. Really!

I saw James Watson last night! and I have his autograph. :D He was in London, in conversation with Brenda Maddox, who wrote Rosalind Franklin's biography. It was fascinating, although I have to admit that he was clearly on his very best behaviour and kept the outrageous comments to a minimum. I'd also like to take this as my excuse for any 'enthusiastic' comments in the post below, which is a great peiece of storytelling. This week was also my first outreach talk to school children, I think it went rather well, although I'll be writing much more on that in a few weeks.

 

OK, so this is another story that I was asked to write (Yay!). Once again there have been reports of alien bacteria in meteorites (that’s the third time in 14 years, if you’re counting).Here is the latest story, I suggest you read it first as it makes what I’ll be saying more surprising. Go on, I’ll wait. Sounds good doesn’t it, highly acclaimed doctor with a paper in a prestigious sounding journal, with authoritative quotes and everything. Not only that but the journal seems to have gone to great lengths to ensure extensive peer reviewing of the findings before publishing. Well, as with many stories that get NASA plastered to them, it’s got a lot of people rather riled up and for a lot of different reasons. Read on and I’m sure you’ll see why.

This is a fantastic story, I’ve never seen so many mistakes made by so many people in so many different ways, it’s quite a feat of engineering really. Also it does go to show that some people really do never learn. The roots of this story lie all the way back in 1997 when NASA scientists reported finding bacterial fossils in a meteorite from Mars.

This astonishing and revolutionary finding was reported by Richard B. Hoover who works at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Centre. This was discounted shortly afterwards when it became apparent that the structures observed were probably contaminants from the time the sample spent on Earth before being studied. Now some people would learn from such a colossal mistake that was a huge embarrassment for NASA and Hoover personally.

This bacterium from Earth looks strangely like some observed in these meteorites (source)

Hoover, however, is made of stronger stuff. After his error in 1997 I’d like to say that he improved his working scheme, ensuring all samples were properly sterilised and cross checked before announcing proof of alien life to the public. But he didn’t. He returned in 2007, although with less impact (mainly due to lack of a successful publication), to say that he really had found life, this time in a totally different type of meteorite. Thankfully this time he attracted less attention.

Now, to the delight of many, Richard B. Hoover has returned to the public stage, thanks in no small part to the lovely people at FOX news, with another attempt. He’s still looking at the same rocks from 2007 but this time he REALLY thinks he’s got it.

SOS: Save our science - Good Science or good publicity?

So this is the second part of my ramblings, and probably the most important bit. This part is all about accurately reporting on science in the media. I’m going to write about science stories that have got people talking, the ones that actually make it into the mainstream. I’m going to write about them in a pragmatic (and possibly occasionally cynical) manner that cuts to the truth of the matter without all the overblown revolutionary claims that are usually applied to these stories.

It seems appropriate to start with this one; I should say before I begin that I do strongly believe in NASA and hope they get the shuttle program back on track soon. But as far as overblowing things goes, I thought this was pretty good.

(Ed. Since this whole story is rapidly collapsing into random mud slinging I would like to point out that this post was written to highlight the way in which science can be distorted by the media, and is not meant as a personal affront to anyone directly involved).

Good science or good publicity?

Good Publicity

Big news! NASA has found aliens living in California (like we didn’t already know) and everyone is getting excited that we’re not alone in the universe. But is it really that big a deal, or has NASAs publicity department just been very clever in distracting everyone from the fact they still haven’t managed to get the shuttle off the ground?

To start with, I’m going to assume that the science underlying all of this is actually correct, and we’ll look at the actual implications and meanings of such a discovery and how it can be blow out of all proportion by the press. Later, I will briefly look at why this work seems to have very little sound scientific foundation and does not really demonstrate anything important.