No, Diatoms Have Not Been Found in a Meteorite (Really?)

If there’s a story practically guaranteed to go viral, it’s about evidence of life in space. And if you have pictures, why, that’s going to spread like, well, like a virus.

So the moment I heard that a paper had been published saying that diatoms—a type of algae, microscopic plant life, that have hard outer shells made of silica and come in a variety of shapes and forms—had been found in a meteorite, I knew I’d get flooded with emails and tweets and Facebook messages because LIFE IN SPACE!

And so I did. People are really curious about this!

But then I read the actual paper, and guess what? Let me be delicate: It’s wrong. Really, really wrong. Way, way, way ridiculously oh-holy-wow-how-could-anyone-publish-this wrong.

[deep breath]

OK, let’s dive in, shall we?

This emotional, hand waving criticism borders on an ad hominem attack. It is NOT a convincing rebuttal to the Wickramasinghe paper. The jury is still out, IMO. But such an obvious attack is to be expected from a hack internet outlet like Slate. To read more, click here.