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Curious NASA Pre-Announcement

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the phone-gnome dept.

CrtxReavr was one of a small avalanche of readers to let us know about a press conference NASA scheduled for Thursday at 2pm to discuss an "astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life." I've heard rumors ranging from "proof of life on Titan" to "first contact," depending on how optimistic/crazy you are.

4 of 286 comments (clear)

  1. Ranging from proof of life to first contact? by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Methinks you might want to expand your range at the bottom a bit. I suspect it will be something along the lines of "We've discovered evidence that some precursor to life may have been present on this extraterrestrial body--or may not, depending heavily on your interpretation of some very ambiguous data."

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    1. Re:Ranging from proof of life to first contact? by Chris+Burke · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Since the announcement of the press conference says that the finding will impact the "search for evidence of extraterrestrial life," chances are they've found some potential signature of a metabolic process.

      Hmmm... taking what you said about the lack of the Cassini project lead to heart, and noting a lack of anyone attached to any particular observatory project in that list... Is it possible that the announcement won't actually be about a particular astronomical observation at all?

      Could it be that these scientists have discovered a plausible biological reaction which could take place in different extraterrestrial environments that simply gives them something new to look for in the future? That would count as an astrobiological finding, and would certainly impact the search for evidence of life.

      But would be liable to be even more disappointing to many people. :)

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
  2. they found that the astrobiology budget was cut by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    they found that the astrobiology budget was cut

  3. I wonder if it's big enough to. . . by Fantastic+Lad · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I wonder if this will be big enough news to distract people from the scandals arising from the Wikileaks thing.

    Also, look for Octo-Moms to lead police on high-speed chases in Black SUVs over the coming days. Down a well.

    -FL