Photo via the European Space Agency
Read: The Very Serious Business of Figuring Out How Earth Will Handle First Contact with AliensPhilae and Rosetta, two spacecrafts from the European Space Agency, may have discovered evidence of alien microbial life. Spacecraft Philae made history by landing on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko last November and discovering the comet's organic rich black crust. Spacecraft Rosetta was also reported to have picked up organic material, which scientists say looks like viral particles. According to the Guardian, leading astronomers report that the comet's features are best explained by the presence of living alien organisms beneath its icy surface. That's right—living alien organisms.Or not. After the Guardian's article on Sunday, physicist Chris Lee quickly penned a piece for Ars Technica, shrugging off the cries of "Alien!" and saying that "sometimes, scientists announce things that are breathtakingly stupid." Lee reasons that the comet's features can be best explained by simple chemistry. In his article, he describes how the comet, after gathering enough material and being fueled by the heat of the sun, has begun to react and produce what certain scientists claim to be evidence of alien life. "Let's not go shouting about life," Lee writes. "What we actually know is that we have some strange lumps of carbon."Lee also criticizes Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, an astronomer involved in the planning of Philae's landing in November. Wickramasinghe is known to be a radical astrobiologist who has previously suggested that SARS was brought to Earth from space and has testified in favor of teaching creationism in US classrooms. He thinks that people should be more willing to accept the existence of alien life and says our "thinking has remained Earth-centered" and "it will take a lot of evidence to kick it over." Still, though, there's a big difference between some carbon on a space rock and the definitive proof of intelligent alien life. Oh well.