NASA to announce Alien Life Discovery? - News Conference Set for Dec 2 !

[Raptor]

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010...robiology.html

MEDIA ADVISORY : M10-167

NASA Sets News Conference on Astrobiology Discovery; Science Journal Has Embargoed Details Until 2 p.m. EST On Dec. 2

WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. EST on Thursday, Dec. 2, to discuss an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life. Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe.

The news conference will be held at the NASA Headquarters auditorium at 300 E St. SW, in Washington. It will be broadcast live on NASA Television and streamed on the agency's website at http://www.nasa.gov.

Participants are:
- Mary Voytek, director, Astrobiology Program, NASA Headquarters, Washington
- Felisa Wolfe-Simon, NASA astrobiology research fellow, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, Calif.
- Pamela Conrad, astrobiologist, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
- Steven Benner, distinguished fellow, Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution, Gainesville, Fla.
- James Elser, professor, Arizona State University, Tempe

Media representatives may attend the conference or ask questions by phone or from participating NASA locations. To obtain dial-in information, journalists must send their name, affiliation and telephone number to Steve Cole at stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov or call 202-358-0918 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 202-358-0918 end_of_the_skype_highlighting by noon Dec. 2.

For NASA TV streaming video and downlink information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For more information about NASA astrobiology activities, visit:

http://astrobiology.nasa.gov

[blaggard]

ooo ooo ooo!

[pete252]

I am guessing that will be 7.00pm for us UK peeps then?

[Raptor]

Correct

[russbeer]

7pm tonight or Thursday?

[CzarJunkie]

If they have found the evidence of life somewhere else in the solar system or beyond, it will be the biggest discovery in human history. Even bigger than the Theory of Evolution or the discovery of Earth's orbit around the Sun.

I'll feel extremley privileged to be alive at this moment in time if we have discovered we are not alone in the cosmos.

[pete252]

7pm tonight or Thursday?

Yes 2nd December - that means a whole day of rumour and speculation!!

[Nibb]

If I dont see a picture of a Clanger I will be most disappointed!

[ilscuro]

Alien Life? like a bug on a rock on pluto? or a civilization on a planet somewhere?

I hope it's the latter.

[mysterym]

Et has fangs chaps, he'll want your xbox off you.

On a serious note, I agree with Steven Hawkins in that we might not like what we find and therefore shouldn't be looking.

[BertRoot]

Did this not get discussed a couple of days ago? Come on Rap keep up.

[GTI]

I bet its going to be something boring like 3D crystallography of protein structures or primitive unicellular micro-organisms... don't expect the frozen bodies of baddie aliens still holding their laser shooters

[CzarJunkie]

I bet its going to be something boring like 3D crystallography of protein structures or primitive unicellular micro-organisms... don't expect the frozen bodies of baddie aliens still holding their laser shooters

That's fine by me. We've never found any signs of life beyond our planet. So anything, no matter how small, will be hugely significant.

Although, I am hoping it's some form of intelligent life who have overcome the limitations of either a carbon or silicon based biology and who now live in in what we would describe as machines. Imagine being able to upload your consciousness into the cloud?

[dannyboy]

Is this it? or a load of bollocks from the Daily Mail?

Nasa raises hopes of finding extra-terrestrials with discovery of 'alien' bacteria that survives in arsenic

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...e-planets.html

[Freddy]

FFS are people really expecting a green monster. Bacteria/protein it don't matter. The point is that it is living and it's just the first find. I too will feel privileged.

[danthescan]

Of course Alien life exists,its been living under my bed for years.Starts off as food tho.

[GTI]

Seriously do you believe your average telly tubby will realise the profound significance of extraterrestrial life..? most probably already believe in UFOs and aliens. So unless the Daily Mail hype this up to be a martian invasion, it will probably go over most people's heads... and to be honest even I wouldn't be that surprised.
The statistical probablity of there being life out there is actually pretty high, its estimated that there are 100 billion stars in our galaxy, and a 100 billion galaxies in the universe... that would be a lot of empty space if earth was the only intelligent life-containing planet.

[Nibb]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...ke-in-USA.html

[BBK]

Imagine being able to upload your consciousness into the cloud?

No offence CJ, but your consciousness being "in the cloud" scares me more than a little ;-)

Have to say though, totally with you on this. No matter how miniscule it may be, any sign of alien life will be just incredible.

[pete252]

If it does turn out to be that Daily Mail/Sun bollox I will be sorely disappointed. All it means is that there is a 'statistically greater chance of life out there'. As far as I'm concerned there is already a massive probability of life but we need to actually find it. I agree with Czar and Freddie though - what a moment in time!