Wednesday 13 October 2010

news of the world

Though it may be just a case of very poor timing, it is interesting to observe that the council of astronomers, perhaps the same body that demoted Pluto and bereft the Scorpios of a ruling planet, is now recanting the surety of the discovery of Gliese 581g, saying that perhaps the readings were not rigorously peer-reviewed beforehand, just after this bulwark of journalism seemingly patched together a random and incredulous old report of strange signals emanating from the neighborhood of the star. It is as if once that news organization picked up on or wanted in on the story, it spoiled it for everyone else, and made skepticism a much more acceptable stance. I always wondered how many premature claims could be attributed to smudge on the lens, stellar pareidolia and scientists forcing the results they are expecting, but nonetheless, the bulk of the findings from the exoplanet spotting missions are unprocessed or have already yielded more solid discoveries. I hope a hopeful and curious audience does not become overly suspicious or jaded by the next big revelation.