Mar 14, 2024 05:37 PM
Avi Loeb claimed to track down and find alien spherules on the ocean bottom. Here's the sober truth.
https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/...spherules/
KEY POINTS: In 2014, a meteor like many others crashed into Earth: with a poorly measured velocity, trajectory, and impact location, of a relatively small, modest size. One astronomer, however, made the extraordinary claim that it was interstellar and possibly of alien origin, and further claimed to recover fragments from the event from an ocean expedition. Since those claims were first made, many experienced planetary scientists have attempted to teach this astronomer how to properly conduct research in their field, to no avail. Now the science gets its say.
EXCERPT: . . . Quite wonderfully, however, there’s a silver lining to all of this for everyone involved. Loeb’s outrageous and unsupportable claims, however wrongheaded they are, have drawn attention to a field of science that is all too often neglected: planetary science, and specifically the science of objects that fall to Earth and that have collected on the seafloor over thousands or even millions of years. It has rewarded those patient and diligent enough to learn the difference between what an authoritative-sounding voice claims and what is actually true, and it has even provided Avi Loeb himself with an opportunity to learn how to become a solid planetary science practitioner, if he chooses to someday walk down that path.
But to all others, this should go down as a cautionary tale. Any scientist who seeks to enter a field outside of their own must understand this: you must first gain the necessary expertise to learn what doing science responsibly looks like in a new field. Otherwise, you run the risk of not merely doing poor science, but of fooling yourself into believing you’re making a world-changing breakthrough, when in fact you’re not doing science at all. In the worst-case scenario, you’ll find yourself fudging the data in order to fit your preferred conclusion.
This still has the opportunity to be a learning experience for everyone involved, and may even herald an era where someday, the first interstellar meteorites can be truly identified. Until then, this has been an extraordinary lesson in not only how non-experts can fool themselves, but how thoroughly we must guard against being led astray by someone who refuses to learn the expertise necessary to contribute meaningfully to a scientific field... (MORE - missing details)
https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/...spherules/
KEY POINTS: In 2014, a meteor like many others crashed into Earth: with a poorly measured velocity, trajectory, and impact location, of a relatively small, modest size. One astronomer, however, made the extraordinary claim that it was interstellar and possibly of alien origin, and further claimed to recover fragments from the event from an ocean expedition. Since those claims were first made, many experienced planetary scientists have attempted to teach this astronomer how to properly conduct research in their field, to no avail. Now the science gets its say.
EXCERPT: . . . Quite wonderfully, however, there’s a silver lining to all of this for everyone involved. Loeb’s outrageous and unsupportable claims, however wrongheaded they are, have drawn attention to a field of science that is all too often neglected: planetary science, and specifically the science of objects that fall to Earth and that have collected on the seafloor over thousands or even millions of years. It has rewarded those patient and diligent enough to learn the difference between what an authoritative-sounding voice claims and what is actually true, and it has even provided Avi Loeb himself with an opportunity to learn how to become a solid planetary science practitioner, if he chooses to someday walk down that path.
But to all others, this should go down as a cautionary tale. Any scientist who seeks to enter a field outside of their own must understand this: you must first gain the necessary expertise to learn what doing science responsibly looks like in a new field. Otherwise, you run the risk of not merely doing poor science, but of fooling yourself into believing you’re making a world-changing breakthrough, when in fact you’re not doing science at all. In the worst-case scenario, you’ll find yourself fudging the data in order to fit your preferred conclusion.
This still has the opportunity to be a learning experience for everyone involved, and may even herald an era where someday, the first interstellar meteorites can be truly identified. Until then, this has been an extraordinary lesson in not only how non-experts can fool themselves, but how thoroughly we must guard against being led astray by someone who refuses to learn the expertise necessary to contribute meaningfully to a scientific field... (MORE - missing details)