The Guardian takes a good look at what we can really learn from NASA’s arsenic-eating aliens this week:
But to focus on the researchers would be to miss the point really. There may be errors or methodological weakness in their work, but it’s not a crime if Wolfe-Simon et al write a paper that sucks. The whole point of submitting a paper for publication is to solicit feedback, and it’s not their fault that a) the paper was accepted or b) the paper was sucked into the hungry input nozzles of NASA’s PR machine.
Much as I love NASA – and as much as I think the agency really needs all the PR it can get right now – dude’s got a point.