E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSRumors and speculation are swirling on the Internet about the subject of a news conference to be carried live at 2 p.m. ET Thursday on NASA TV "to discuss an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life."
"Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe," NASA explains in its advisory. And that's about as much as the space agency is saying about the discovery right now. However, the advisory includes a list of the speakers for the briefing. That's what led to the online guessing game.
Among those speakers is Felisa Wolfe-Simon, a researcher at the U.S. Geological Survey who says she's concentrating on "arsenic biogeochemistry, cyanobacteria, novel uses for as yet undescribed metalloenzymes and of course, arsenic-based life!"
Other speakers include NASA astrobiologist Pamela Conrad, who specializes in planetary habitability assessment; Steven Benner of the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution, who studies the chemical foundations of biology; and Arizona State University's James Elser, who focuses on life in extreme environments.
Blogger Jason Kottke put all those pieces together and speculated that Thursday's announcement would be about the discovery of life on Saturn's moon Titan. But that suggestion was shot down as false in a Twitter post from The Atlantic Monthly's senior editor and science blogger Alexis Madrigal.
Will the secret survive until Thursday? Back in August, NASA let information slip out an hour before the embargo lifted on a report in the journal Science about the discovery of two giant planets in constantly changing orbits. In that instance, NASA made its news release and other information about the discovery publicly available. Going even further back, to 1996, there's the famous case of the Mars meteorite study that leaked out in advance of publication in Science.
What do you think has been found? Feel free to weigh in with your comment, but please respect any information known to be under embargo.
John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by hitting the "like" button on the Cosmic Log Facebook page or following msnbc.com's science editor, Alan Boyle, on Twitter (@b0yle).
Leave a Comment:
I really hope it's extraterrestrial life. If so, I also hope to live at least until Thursday to see it. :-)
Best regards from Spain.
I can hardly believe they found ET, but I am 99.9% positive they found Uranus.
Does it matter that plant life is clearly visible in the Mars Exploration Rover photos? Does it matter that Spirit sol 1192 clearly shows a building, including some of its structural members? Does it matter that the Martian photos are littered with strange objects which are artificial?
Does it matter that all of the fantastic things you list, while they would be wonderful, are not so?
Does it matter that scientists prefer truth to fantasy? (No matter how hard the truth.)
My guess is that Felisa Wolf-Simon and her team have found evidence of arsenic-based life here on earth. She did say earlier this year they had some exciting data that would be published before the end of the year.
Correct:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/eureka/article7040864.ece
Thanks for that article in the Times.
There is a good chance of that, though that would be so lame of an announcement. I mean I understand that it's an important finding, but not worthy of a special conference. Just publish the results.
I think this sort of "reporting" about news that doesn't exist yet is one of the main problems with cable/internet news - the need to fill the space/time with something/anything in place of actual news and information.
Yes, I hate these kinds of stories because they usually lead to misinformation. But I've been getting so many pointers to misinformation that John and I decided we should at least let folks that know much of what they're reading isn't true ... and that the full story can be seen on NASA TV on Thursday. I'm hoping we'll be able to stream that live via msnbc.com video. John and I are bound by an embargo so we can't say what the news is (or confirm what it is) unless the embargo is lifted. But we're not getting ready to welcome our new Titanian overlords.
If it weren't for this story, I wouldn't know about the Thursday presser and wouldn't be able to watch.
Can't wait, thanks for the tip!
Reminds me of the recent headline claiming that a supernova had been replicated in a lab.
On Engadget, using similar logic that it would be iron-protein complexes found on mars rocks. One of the speakers' focus is in the study of rocks, so I would almost guarantee that this is a solar-system phenomenon.
Nothing
They have discovered breathable air around Uranus.
"This type of Reporting" is called a "lead in" or a tease. It is not a report until that day. If we have no sizzle then we never want to watch, eat, etc. We always need some sort of advertising news or a report about her findings. How many times do you see a news show talk about one news item over and over as a tease only to string you along until the end of the show? This gives advertisers etc what they want.
So what news does not exist? That which has not been told yet, maybe? Does that cause you to want to hear it?
All journalists are whores.
Funny you should bring up the journalist/whore analogy. This quote has been around for at least 30 years and probably much longer:
http://journalisimo.blogspot.com/2006/09/real-truth-about-newsrooms.html
Huh, one look at my stomach tells me (and everyone else) that I have never waited for "sizzle" to tell me when or what to eat...LOL.
Wow, another webber who things because he's anonymous he can turn off the filter and say whatever he wants...
While all journalists may be whores, all whores are not necessarily journalists. At least my ex wife wasn't. A journalist that is.
Don't let Meg read that post! lol
Not as bad as some things I've seen out of the gaming industry. They have been known to announce they are going to make an announcement, to which the announcement is about an announcement. No joke. I can't remember who did this. I think it was either SquareEnix or Konami's Hideo Kojima. This happened last year. But yeah, the media does enjoy making announcements about making an announcement. Lame.
see guys, alan achknowledges the existence of "the man" so lets lay off him and place the blame where it really belongs.
The man.
OK, I'll take this as an invitation to check it out at 2PM on Thursday, and pretty much forget about it until 1:58PM on Thursday.
It's probably some process discovered here on earth that indicates life might be more ubiquitous than originally thought and that we should broaden our search more broadly or something. It could also be that they found TrACes of this process off world and are extrapolating. but I highly doubt it's actual life and proof from beyond this earth. Otherwise it would be a bigger deal. The astrobio and molecular evolutionist showe it's something inherent about molecular evolution. They discovered a process, not actual life is my bet. However from a scientific point of view I would think that would be more exciting as it gets to the core of life and it's understanding rather than just proof of life elsewhere. I think it's pretty obvious there is life outside our planet, but I don think this release will bring any PROOF of that.
to everyone(almost): i don't know and you don't either. that's my approach, although it IS fun to speculate and sometimes even fun to read it!
I am sure they found life in Uranus...right near an arse(nic)-hole in California...
There was a recent gerbil sighting near Uranus but that slipped out too. Bummer. Peolpe should get their facts stright before they put it in print or onthe air. Some real proof would be interesting but between the big brother and Air farce all we get is the circle jerk.
Oxygen and or methane in atmosphere around one of the smaller exoplanets maybe near water sweet spot.
They found a Burger King on Europa. Nothing like getting ahead of the game, eh?
Over 1 billion served... oh wait.
Unfortunately, like Charlie Brown endeavoring to kick the football for a record-setting field goal, I suspect NASA is just playing the role of Lucy, waiting to pull that ball away at the very last moment. After all, if the Thursday conference call was really to announce the discovery of life outside our planet, wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that there would be world dignitaries making that announcement?
Seriously, something as monumental as the announcement that life exists beyond our world would demand more than just a few PhD's time (no offense to the PhD's). Where are the world leaders?
In my humble opinion, they will announce that "evidence suggests the basic building blocks exist that could someday, maybe, perhaps lead to the existence of life or the environment to support life", or some similar meally-mouthed, non-news.
Wake me if it's different. I'll hit the snooze button now.
nah, it has to do with that comet they collected dust from
That was the Japanese, not us.
It "still" never fails to amaze me!Please..learned scientists, ET"s have been around and on this earth for eon's. I am not sure what the reason for all of this deception? Do any of you listen to the astronauts? It is embarrassing to be the only country that refuses to engage in helpful conversation regarding beings from other planet's?With so many "secrets" how can we ever be able to live and learn from those who have true knowledge regarding the myriad's of universes?
maybe this is step one in our acknowledgement, no?
It "still" never fails to amaze me!Please..learned scientists, ET"s have been around and on this earth for eon's. I am not sure what the reason for all of this deception? Do any of you listen to the astronauts? It is embarrassing to be the only country that refuses to engage in helpful conversation regarding beings from other planet's?With so many "secrets" how can we ever be able to live and learn from those who have true knowledge regarding the myriad's of universes?
yup! that's what the priests used to do. hence, the dark ages!!!
sorry 'bout the double post down there in kwinkay's post.
It "still" never fails to amaze this fruitcake!Please..learned scientists, Fruitcakes have been around and on this earth for eon's. This fruitcake is not sure what the reason for all of this deception? Do any of you listen to the fruitcakes? It is embarrassing to be the only country that refuses to engage fruitcakes in helpful conversation regarding beings from other planet's?With so many "fruitcakes" how can we ever be able to live and learn from those who have true knowledge regarding the myriad's of fruitcakes?
I too believe it will be something discovered in the dust gathered from the comet recently. Hmmmmmmm wonder if they found a Big Brothers NWO escape craft...filled with all our money for future use. Hmmmmmmmm?
Probably either found something here on Earth that is a little different, or found something out there (Mars? comet?) that points to a possibility that there maybe, could be, something there.
I agree with Sandy...it is embarrassing how our country makes it all a secret and hides and controls what we know....just maybe we could all have a say in the importance of all findings about E.T. realities. But....we are not capable to handle the truth...thats why the government lies to us all the time...since thats how they see the people who put them into power.
yup!!! that's what the priests used to do. hence, the dark ages!!!
yup!!! that's what the E.T.s do. hence, the dark ages!!!
The above statement may be a little deep so I’ll be plain.
Your saying that our government has the ability to hide the existence of E.T.? Beings who are, by definition, more technologically advanced than us. Beings who can travel between the stars are being forced into hiding by our government? Really? If it’s true that our government is keeping E.T.s existence a secret then it is only with E.T.s consent.
Sadly true....peace6
If it were really big news it would have been leaked by now, so some sort of incremental step toward discovering ET life...IMHO.