5 ms·
"This is an idea put forward by Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe, the latter being a member of the team who has carried out this analysis." Chandra Wickra
by tokenadult 14y ago
"This is an idea put forward by Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe, the latter being a member of the team who has carried out this analysis."
Chandra Wickramasinghe is currently the MAIN guy promoting the idea discussed in the article kindly submitted here (as Hoyle has died). Hacker News participants can gain perspective on this idea by reading "Diatoms…iiiiin spaaaaaaaaaaace!"
http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/01/16/diatomsiiiiin-spaaaaaaaaaaace/ http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/01/16/diatomsiii...
and
"Chandra Wickramasinghe replies…and fails hard"
http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/01/18/chandra-wickramasinghe-repliesand-fails-hard/ http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/01/18/chandra-wi...
to see comments by a biologist on why the evidence here is completely inadequate for Wickramasinghe's latest claim. Wickramasinghe has been around the block with claims like this before, and he is the editor of the main "journal" that promotes this idea, but none of his specific claims of finding extraterrestrial life have ever been backed up by convincing evidence.
EDIT: I should add the link to a critique of the extraordinary claim here by an astronomer
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/01/15/life_in_a_meteorite_claims_by_n_c_wickramasinghe_of_diatoms_in_a_meteorite.html http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/01/15/life_in_...
(this was linked in the links I put in this comment earlier), so you can see his comments on the new claim directly.
- nemo 14y agoWhile there seem to be serious issues with the research, it's hard to be won over by an article that starts with "You all know that the Journal of Cosmology is complete crap, right? In addition to some of the worst web design ever — it looks like a drunk clown puked up his fruit loops onto a grid of 1990s-style tables — the content is ridiculous, predictable, and credulous," and continues with "That’s the kind of rigorous scientific thinking we’re dealing with here." Admittedly I've never liked Myers style since he always has seemed to be an obnoxious advocate of a certain brand of orthodoxy, rather than giving any sense of nuanced or rigorous (scientific or otherwise) thinking.
- tripzilch 14y agoEspecially since I know many solid scientific websites with horrible design (especially professors' personal sites), so it's almost a show of ignorance to try and connect "rigorous scientific thinking" with proper web design.
- takluyver 14y agoPersonal websites, yes. Academic journals tend to look professional - which doesn't always mean great web design, but it definitely doesn't mean what you see at journalofcosmology.com. If you had solid evidence for the biggest biological claim of the century, you'd take it to the top journals - Nature or Science.
- nollidge 14y agoYou're right, so it's good that Myers wasn't anywhere close to connecting those things, which you'd know if you read the blog post.
- scarmig 14y agoYou leave out the part where the Journal of Cosmology photoshopped Myers' head onto a picture of a plump woman in negligee. By their fruits you shall know them. Sometimes it's appropriate to use a heavy touch. I would agree Myers relies on it much too much, but it's not inherently bad. Though, as a minor point, Myers' site itself could use some better design chops...
- mistercow 14y ago>rather than giving any sense of nuanced or rigorous (scientific or otherwise) thinking. Have you read his blog posts that aren't about atheism, or debunking, but are just about what he researches and teaches? Here's an example from today: http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/03/11/what-i-taught-today-farewell-to-flies-for-a-while/ http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/03/11/what-i-taught-...
- arrrg 14y agoSome things are so obviously bullshit, they deserve no serious treatment. This is one of them.