FoxNews.com Publishes ‘Exclusive’ Alien Research That Is Both Questionable And From 2004

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by Frances Martel | 4:55 pm, March 5th, 2011

» 15 comments

Fox News gets plenty of flak for its political coverage from detractors, but today it’s the network’s science coverage that has come under fire. An article on the network’s science page boasts a shocking “exclusive“: a scientist has found life on other planets! Fascinating, except Gawker’s Adrian Chen did some research on the scientist behind the discovery, and it appears that the finding is not quite new and about as “exclusive” as a Charlie Sheen interview.

“We are not alone in the universe– and alien life forms may have a lot more in common with life on Earth than we had previously thought,” Fox boasts, announcing a report by Dr. Richard Hoover claiming lifeforms in meteorite fragments show life exists elsewhere in space. They continue:

That’s the stunning conclusion one NASA scientist has come to, releasing his groundbreaking revelations in a new study in the March edition of the Journal of Cosmology.

Dr. Richard B. Hoover, an astrobiologist with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, has traveled to remote areas in Antarctica, Siberia, and Alaska, amongst others, for over ten years now, collecting and studying meteorites. He gave FoxNews.com early access to the out-of-this-world research, published late Friday evening in the March edition of the Journal of Cosmology. In it, Hoover describes the latest findings in his study of an extremely rare class of meteorites, called CI1 carbonaceous chondrites — only nine such meteorites are known to exist on Earth.

Though it may be hard to swallow, Hoover is convinced that his findings reveal fossil evidence of bacterial life within such meteorites, the remains of living organisms from their parent bodies — comets, moons and other astral bodies. By extension, the findings suggest we are not alone in the universe, he said.

Chen’s research found several questionable items related to this study– first and foremost that the exact same study has been around since at least 2004, and has resurfaced repeatedly in years previous until as recently as last month. Very fishy. Chen even questions the website of the Journal of Cosmology apparently republishing the findings soon on account of their website, among other things, looking like “it was designed by a New Age music retailer in 1997.” But they’re cosmologists, not web developers, so maybe the benefit of the doubt is in order here.

It’s likely whoever wrote the article was duped by either a press release or an article elsewhere– let’s face it, aliens are not Fox News’ forte– and the veracity of the study, extreme skepticism aside, has not been 100% debunked. Needless to say, however, that a quick Google search would have saved the site plenty of embarrassment had they realized there was a good possibility this news wasn’t “exclusive.” But one thing’s for sure: whoever sold this to Fox as an exclusive (likely Dr. Hoover himself) has some explaining to do.

Adrien Chen, Aliens, fox news, Gawker, meteorites, NASA, Oops, Richard Hoover

http://TheDividedStatesBlog.com Publius219

Why don’t you debunk their stories where they blatantly distort/mischaracterize/sensationalize opposing viewpoints and perceived opponents. Union “thugs”. Death panels. Shit like that. Instead you call them out on this. Gutsy.
Ricia

Do you people bother to read the entire article, or just pick and choose phrases? They did NOT say this was new! THe only thing they claim to be exclusive is the interview with Dr. Richard B. Hoover who gave FoxNews.com early access to the research.

“No other paper in the history of science has undergone such a thorough vetting, and never before in the history of science has the scientific community been given the opportunity to critically analyze an important research paper before it is published, he wrote.”

Now, does that sound “new”?
ProgLib

Lighten up Frances
david pavlak

The EXACT same story was found on todays UFO Chronicles….

http://www.theufochronicles.com/
proudpatriotusa

Faux News, aliens are real but global warming is not.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Dronetek-Bulk-Vanderhuge/100000918732763 Dronetek

Do a google search and you’ll find the news story on many MSM websites. I posted this information earlier, but Mediaite removed the post. Why is Frances Martel singling out Fox here?
Republitarian

Frances Martel wrote what I’m sure she thought was a well-constructed critique of a Fox website story. Instead, she has demonstrated that she either didn’t read the article upon which she bases her personal commentary, or she’s too stupid to understand what the article actually said.

I’ll guess we’ll never know for sure, but I suppose it’s a possibility that she didn’t read it AND even if she had, she’s not bright enough to understand it.
Puter Boi

If it’s the weekend at Mediaite……….it’s Frances Martel!!

And…..ummmmm….some other stuff…..
da-wdc

Janky looking websites aren’t really a fair measurement – a lot of small journals and organizations just don’t have the resources or know-how to build something better, and as long as it gets the job done they’ll stick with their early 90′s looking boxy layout thing.

Chen seems to be off base here – you too, Frances. The NYT writeup mentions that the same scientist did release earlier papers in 2004 and 2007, but this is a new one:
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/05/nasa-scientist-sees-signs-of-life-in-meteorites/

If you’re going to be skeptical, some of the factors in play are: this is a new field. They need funding. For funding, they need interest and public support. There are incentives to make a splash with new discoveries. Who can justify funding “astrobiology” if there are no signs of life beyond this planet?

But it’s hard to find good coverage of the story, because almost nobody wants to pay veteran journalists what they’re worth.. and because listicles on trends and celebrities and aggregated content from other sites generate more pageviews than science writing, a lot of news organizations don’t have people dedicated to covering science and space any more, which is a real shame because their judgment and expertise is needed, especially when stories like this come up. Ask Miles O’Brien.
chicgoods10

===== http://www.chic-goods.com/ =====

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Armageddon T Thunderbird

It is no secret that Fox News cannot and does not represent political issues accurately and has a long history of problems with simply telling the truth about anything. Given the fact that 21st century republicanism has been the greatest enemy to science since the dark ages and the crusades, it should come as no surprise that they would not be able to get it right when covering a topic in astrobiology.
BOMBSHELL

If you look at the lower right of the photo, you can see a face that looks very familiar. Study it for a moment and the truth will come to you–it’s a photo of my daddy when he was still an embryo.
Terry Ott

BOMBSHELL:

I DID look, and I do not doubt you. In fact, the image is not unlike your own photo shown next to your name, so the genetics aparently have come through to another generation.

But all of that begs the question: what solar system did your daddy come from via meteor, and are you in contact with any of the family back there? If so, could you ask them if they’ve had to deal with this global warming thing and what they did about it?

Thanks.
BOMBSHELL

Terry Ott said:
I DID look, and I do not doubt you.

Then you should also look at my daddy’s photo since I look just like him.

My daddy was visited by aliens one night when he was inhaling toluene fumes and they told him he came from Uranus. Did it hurt much when you gave birth to him?

One other important note: If you’ll look carefully at the photo, you will see the letter “S.” That’s his “stupid gene.” Everyone in our family has it you know.

Will you buy me a kitten? Please?
Sid G.

Don’t discount this, how then to explain the Tea Party and their witches and Nazi impersonators.