Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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.

7 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 Thelasko · · Score: 5, Informative

      It probably has to do with the recent discovery of oxygen on Saturn's moon Rhea.

      --
      One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
    2. 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. Titan seems plausible by bl8n8r · · Score: 5, Informative

    "NASA believes it has found vital clues that alien life does indeed exist on Titan, "
    http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978743812

    --
    boycott slashdot February 10th - 17th check out: altSlashdot.org
  3. Did they find the ancient gene? by Joe+The+Dragon · · Score: 5, Funny

    Did they find the ancient gene?

  4. Re:Mmmmm. Seafood. by spun · · Score: 5, Funny

    It tastes Europaean.

    --
    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
  5. Just idle speculation by Snowblindeye · · Score: 5, Informative
    It's funny how quick idle speculation turns into news. Apparently it all started with this blog post.

    He's now updated his post with a tweet from someone at Nasa that the press conference is not about proof of life:

    I'm sad to quell some of the @kottke-induced excitement about possible extraterrestrial life. I've seen the Science paper. It's not that