The discovery of alien life might reasonably be expected to create headline news. But the media response to just such an announcement in the Journal of Cosmology 1 has been muted, and mostly dismissive.
"Bugs from space? Forget it", said Science 's reporter Richard Kerr. The Los Angeles Times quoted microbiologist Rosie Redfield as saying "Move along folks. There's nothing to see here."
These are more printable than the negative comments about the research received by Nature. But the real story is stranger than Richard Hoover's claim to have found fossilized extraterrestrial bacteria. For who is Hoover, what is the Journal of Cosmology, and why has NASA been moved to officially distance itself from the affair?
That's debatable. To read the rest of the article, click here.