Russian Scientist Claims Evidence of Life on Venus

[Mysterion]

Article here: http://news.yahoo.com/russian-scientist-claims-signs-life-spotted-venus-070321311.html

It'll be interesting to see where this goes.

 

[Christopher]

Re: Russian Scientists Claims Evidence of Life on Venus

But in his article, published in the magazine Solar System Research, Ksanfomaliti says the Russian photographs depict objects resembling a “disk,” a “black flap” and a “scorpion.”

By that logic, clouds are made of bunnies and submarines.

Ksanfomaliti cautioned that the objects he wrote about seem to “emerge, fluctuate and disappear” in different photographs taken from a variety of vantage points.

Which means they could be shadows, distortions due to Venus's dense air, or imaging artifacts.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

Re: Russian Scientists Claims Evidence of Life on Venus

The only thing exciting here is the article title.

The actual claim is no better than the alien spaceship on the moon.

The scientist is not scientist (or isn't making scientific claims), there isn't evidence for life, just some artefacts without explanation. The probability for life on Venus remains mostly unchanged.

I would still support more missions there.

 

[RoJoHen]

Re: Russian Scientists Claims Evidence of Life on Venus

He saw random shapes and decided they were lifeforms? Is that what I'm supposed to get out of this? Complete nonsense.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Re: Russian Scientists Claims Evidence of Life on Venus

"Lifeforms! You tiny little lifeforms! You precious little lifeforms! Where are you?"

Reminds me of similar nonsense with Mars rover pictures, and those pictures were reasonably high resolution and relatively noise free. I haven't been able to find any examples of the Venus photos in question here, but the Venera photos I've seen in the past were not suggestive of an environment that would readily support macroscopic life - microscopic extremophiles in some upper atmospheric layer might be a long-shot possibility, I guess.

 

[M'Sharak]

Re: Russian Scientists Claims Evidence of Life on Venus

From a Planetary Society Blog entry posted this morning:

http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00003338/

The writer felt compelled by Ksanfomaliti's credentials to give his paper serious consideration, in spite of the fact that the story sounded like nonsense, but she concludes:

It's surprising that someone so otherwise respectable can publish something so patently off the wall. As I've chatted with people, various explanations have come up. One person told me that Ksanfomaliti has always had a penchant for things slightly on the edge of reality. Another suggests that thirty years of poring over old data sets, with no successful planetary missions producing new data sets, would make anyone crazy. As for me, I've seen before when successful people become so convinced that they are smart and right that they go over some edge and suddenly think that any crazy idea that flits into their head must be right, because they thought it and they're always right, right? There's no way for me to know what's made Ksanfomaliti make so much out of absolutely nothing. All I know is, there's nothing here. Move along.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Re: Russian Scientists Claims Evidence of Life on Venus

I guess this is why "Russian" and "scientists" aren't normally used in the same sentence.

 

[scotpens]

Re: Russian Scientists Claims Evidence of Life on Venus

Actually, the Russians discovered life on Venus decades ago.

I guess this is why "Russian" and "scientists" aren't normally used in the same sentence.

Uh, exqueeze me? Which country was first to put a satellite in orbit, first to put a man in space, first to have a spacewalk and first to send unmanned probes to the Moon?

Of course, they did have a lot of help from their German scientists. Fortunately, our Germans were better than their Germans.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Re: Russian Scientists Claims Evidence of Life on Venus

The Soviet space program was quite a while ago. What have they done lately?

 

[Christopher]

Re: Russian Scientists Claims Evidence of Life on Venus

What I'm wondering is why the thread title mentions "Russian scientists," plural. Is Dr. Ksanfomaliti some kind of composite entity?

 

[Pavonis]

Re: Russian Scientists Claims Evidence of Life on Venus

^He may very well be hearing voices.

 

[Mysterion]

Re: Russian Scientists Claims Evidence of Life on Venus

What I'm wondering is why the thread title mentions "Russian scientists," plural. Is Dr. Ksanfomaliti some kind of composite entity?

Settle down, Sheldon. It's a typo.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

Re: Russian Scientists Claims Evidence of Life on Venus

The Soviet space program was quite a while ago. What have they done lately?

• Re-soldering a deep space probe on the launch pad when it was already loaded with toxic and explosive substances.
• Uploading untested flight control software to a deep space probe on the launch pad.
• Launching a deep space probe without it ever passing the required tests.
• Drinking vodka.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Re: Russian Scientists Claims Evidence of Life on Venus

The Soviet space program was quite a while ago. What have they done lately?

• Re-soldering a deep space probe on the launch pad when it was already loaded with toxic and explosive substances.
• Uploading untested flight control software to a deep space probe on the launch pad.
• Launching a deep space probe without it ever passing the required tests.
• Drinking vodka.

Those Russians do love to fly by the seats of their pants, don't they?

 

[Christopher]

Re: Russian Scientists Claims Evidence of Life on Venus

What I'm wondering is why the thread title mentions "Russian scientists," plural. Is Dr. Ksanfomaliti some kind of composite entity?

Settle down, Sheldon. It's a typo.

Actually it's more than a typo, it's a common pitfall, part of the reason that so much science news is misreported and misunderstood. Too many reporters or commentators tend to take a single scientist's assertions and attribute it to "scientists" in general -- or even worse, to claim that "scientists say" something without giving specific attribution at all. It's the same kind of sloppy thinking that this particular scientist is guilty of in the first place, and it's part of how bad or misleading ideas get propagated farther than they should. (This point came up in an article I read just recently about how to read science news critically, which is why it was on my mind.) So it's worthwhile to notice and call attention to such things, as part of basic defensive reading habits.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Re: Russian Scientists Claims Evidence of Life on Venus

Amazing what nonsense can get somebody worldwide headlines.

 

[JarodRussell]

Re: Russian Scientists Claims Evidence of Life on Venus

Settle down, Sheldon. It's a typo.

Actually it's more than a typo, it's a common pitfall, part of the reason that so much science news is misreported and misunderstood. Too many reporters or commentators tend to take a single scientist's assertions and attribute it to "scientists" in general -- or even worse, to claim that "scientists say" something without giving specific attribution at all. It's the same kind of sloppy thinking that this particular scientist is guilty of in the first place, and it's part of how bad or misleading ideas get propagated farther than they should. (This point came up in an article I read just recently about how to read science news critically, which is why it was on my mind.) So it's worthwhile to notice and call attention to such things, as part of basic defensive reading habits.

LOL, I actually heard Sheldon saying this.

 

[Pingfah]

Re: Russian Scientists Claims Evidence of Life on Venus

And the article didn't make that mistake, it was the OP, and it was just a typo.

 

[Mysterion]

Re: Russian Scientists Claims Evidence of Life on Venus

What I'm wondering is why the thread title mentions "Russian scientists," plural. Is Dr. Ksanfomaliti some kind of composite entity?

Settle down, Sheldon. It's a typo.

Actually it's more than a typo, it's a common pitfall, part of the reason that so much science news is misreported and misunderstood. Too many reporters or commentators tend to take a single scientist's assertions and attribute it to "scientists" in general -- or even worse, to claim that "scientists say" something without giving specific attribution at all. It's the same kind of sloppy thinking that this particular scientist is guilty of in the first place, and it's part of how bad or misleading ideas get propagated farther than they should. (This point came up in an article I read just recently about how to read science news critically, which is why it was on my mind.) So it's worthwhile to notice and call attention to such things, as part of basic defensive reading habits.

No. It's a typo. I intended to write "scientist" in the thread title, and the terminal "s" was a mistake on my part.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Re: Russian Scientists Claims Evidence of Life on Venus

Settle down, Sheldon. It's a typo.

Actually it's more than a typo, it's a common pitfall, part of the reason that so much science news is misreported and misunderstood. Too many reporters or commentators tend to take a single scientist's assertions and attribute it to "scientists" in general -- or even worse, to claim that "scientists say" something without giving specific attribution at all. It's the same kind of sloppy thinking that this particular scientist is guilty of in the first place, and it's part of how bad or misleading ideas get propagated farther than they should. (This point came up in an article I read just recently about how to read science news critically, which is why it was on my mind.) So it's worthwhile to notice and call attention to such things, as part of basic defensive reading habits.

LOL, I actually heard Sheldon saying this.

I fixed the typo, so hopefully we can move beyond the snark against Christopher.