SPACE Several experts on the frontline after the statements of a researcher at the dubious reputation …
As American astrophysicist Carl Sagan once said, in terms of space, “extraordinary claims must be accompanied by extraordinary evidence.” And the scientific community appreciates few recent sensationalist statements of two researchers. According to them, “the data point unequivocally to the presence of microorganisms” Churyumov-Gerasimenko on the comet (“Tchoury”), studied by the Rosetta mission and the little robot Philae. Or not
Mission Rosetta. And now, what will Philae
Max Wallis, Cardiff University and Chandra? Wickramasinghe, of the University of Buckingham, made a presentation to the Royal Astronomical Society in Wales on Sunday, which was taken up by many newspapers. The problem is that this is not a study validated by their peers. And that researchers are based on photos and analyzes of the Rosetta mission to validate an old theory criticized for many years for its lack of seriousness.
The Guardian relayed this thesis, apologized on Monday with a new article entitled “No alien life Philae on the comet.” One researcher said that Philae has no instrument to study life. “No scientist involved in the instruments of the EU mission does not imply that there is extraterrestrial life under the crust ‘of the comet, says Uwe Meierhenrich British newspaper. The consensus is that the detected carbon compounds have a geochemical origin and not biological.
To not settle his case, Wickramasinghe is customary dubious publications eyeing to conspiracy theories. In the past, it has already claimed to have found fossils in meteorites, that NASA was hiding information about Martian life and that the flu virus had an extraterrestrial origin. It is ultimately the professor of planetary geology, Dave Rothery, that best sums up the general feeling on Facebook: “Micro-algae discovered in comets, my ass!”
No comments:
Post a Comment