Aliens?

[Gargamel]

Originally Posted by razark

True. However, if they had sufficient evidence, the "We found aliens!" thing would be worthy of a televised conference.

If you remember, back in the 90's they did just that. They found evidence of life on Mars from a martian meteorite they found in Antarctica. They (NASA) went on TV yelling We found Aliens! Clinton even went onto live TV that night to announce it. Within a few months, after peer review, there was enough 'evidence' and opposing theories to cast doubt onto the accuracy of the claim. Not that it was a Hoax, but the data could have been explained by other means (contamination, mineral deposits, etc).

So in this case, they are following the standard procedure as much as possible. Let the peer reviews confirm it, then NASA goes beserk.

I can (almost ) guarantee you, if they prove aliens exist, their funding will go through the roof. At least until everybody stops and asks, why?