NASA: Buzz about Alien life press conference on Thur

A press release on Monday from NASA has apparently generated a lot of a buzz. Why? Well apparently there is to be a press conference this coming Thursday at 2pm (EST), and the topic that has generated all the excitement is alien life … its all very hush hush at the moment.

Speculation abounds … here are some examples of the tittle-tattle whispers …

Would you believe that even “The Register” is getting in on the act with a MAJOR ALIENS REVELATION article.

OK, so what do we actually know? Well, here is what the press release actually says …

NASA Sets News Conference on Astrobiology Discovery; Science Journal Has Embargoed Details Until 2 p.m. EST On Dec. 2

WASHINGTON — NASA will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. EST on Thursday, Dec. 2, 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.

The news conference will be held at the NASA Headquarters auditorium at 300 E St. SW, in Washington. It will be broadcast live on NASA Television and streamed on the agency’s website at http://www.nasa.gov.

Participants are:
– Mary Voytek, director, Astrobiology Program, NASA Headquarters, Washington
– Felisa Wolfe-Simon, NASA astrobiology research fellow, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, Calif.
– Pamela Conrad, astrobiologist, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
– Steven Benner, distinguished fellow, Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution, Gainesville, Fla.
– James Elser, professor, Arizona State University, Tempe

And thats it … thats all we know … everything else you read is hype and rumor.

So, of course this means they are about to announce the discovery of alien life … yea right. That would be mega-news white-house lawn time stuff… this press conference is not in that league. Using the information above, its obvious that somebody (probably from NASA) has written a paper that is about to be published in Science, so NASA are taking the opportunity to get a bit of PR spin out of it, and its about something that will modify how we might look for alien life … so be excited … hey, this is NASA … OK … but ET … nah, don’t get that excited. When faced with alien rumors … be skeptical, because that truly would be an extraordinary claim, and so really would require extraordinary proof.

Here is the link to the press release on the NASA site.

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