# Have these scientists discovered alien life? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 20, 2013, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-these-scientists-discovered-alien-life/669344 "2013-09-20T21:33:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-these-scientists-discovered-alien-life/669344/1 "2013-09-20T21:33:07Z")
These British scientists are climbing that they are almost certain that they have discovered extra-terrestrial organisms. What’s the straight dope, and what happens next? More experiments? Or is this just laughable? > **[The truth IS out there (above Cheshire, that is): British scientists](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-truth-is-out-there-above-cheshire-that-is-british-scientists-claim-to-have-found-proof-of-alien-life-8826690.html)** > > Life on Mars? No, say scientists, it’s floating 27km above Chester ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-these-scientists-discovered-alien-life/669344/2 "2013-09-20T21:44:42Z")
Read The Bad Astronomer’s [take](http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/09/20/et_claims_of_alien_life_in_earth_s_atmosphere_are_unfounded.html). It’s about as crappy a claim as you can get without invoking channeling. Wickramasinghe in particular has a not so good track record in recent years. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-these-scientists-discovered-alien-life/669344/3 "2013-09-20T22:01:05Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Read The Bad Astronomer’s [take](http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/09/20/et_claims_of_alien_life_in_earth_s_atmosphere_are_unfounded.html). It’s about as crappy a claim as you can get without invoking channeling. > > Wickramasinghe in particular has a not so good track record in recent years. Thank you that’s very revealing. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-these-scientists-discovered-alien-life/669344/4 "2013-09-20T22:15:10Z")
The Journal Of Cosmology is a known loopy fringe journal. They print shit like this all the time, and it never pans out. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2013, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-these-scientists-discovered-alien-life/669344/5 "2013-09-21T00:29:10Z")
Seconded on the _Journal of Cosmology_. If this had any substance, they would have published it somewhere decent. Surely, if they are claiming to have foound unusual living (or once living) organisms, this ought to be in a biology journal. Also, the _Independent_ article linked in the OP seems to contradict itself: > [@](#): > > Some of the samples were captured covered with cosmic dust, adding further credence to the idea that they have originated from space. But > [@](#): > > “The particles are very clean,” added Prof Wainwright. "They don’t have any dust attached to them, which again suggests they’re not coming to earth. Similarly, cosmic dust isn’t stuck to them So this does not seem to be high quality science journalism. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2013, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-these-scientists-discovered-alien-life/669344/6 "2013-09-21T00:55:07Z")
What vastly bad logic these people have demonstrated. If you find evidence of life in the atmosphere of a planet that is jam-packed with and literally crawling with life, the vastly more likely explanation is that it came from the planet. It takes extraordinary evidence to support the extraordinary claim it didn’t, and “there’s no dust on it” doesn’t seem all that powerful an argument. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-these-scientists-discovered-alien-life/669344/7 "2013-09-24T19:52:45Z")
I was discussing this with a coworker and this analogy came to me. Suppose you find a spot of blue paint on the sidewalk across the street from a factory that only makes blue paint. Since you don’t know how the drop crossed the street, do you assume it came from some hypothetical different blue paint factory on another continent? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-these-scientists-discovered-alien-life/669344/8 "2013-09-24T20:16:34Z")
I listen to a number of science pod-casts. They’re all laughing. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-these-scientists-discovered-alien-life/669344/9 "2013-09-24T23:02:02Z")
Most science blogs are laughing, too. [The Panda’s Thumb](http://pandasthumb.org/archives/2013/09/diatoms-from-ou.html), for example.