Alien Megastructure Discovered! (Not Really)

As we learned in class, scientific misinformation can spread like wildfire. Often, the general public can sque a scientific conclusion, turning a true statement into a sensationalist headline, misrepresenting the truth.

That is exactly what happened last month when an astronomer at, none other than, Penn State concluded that the mysterious lighting around a distant star, KIC 8462852, which dimmed in a frequent fashion, may be caused by an ‘Alien Megastructure’. Within days, publications around the world published articles about the finding, social media was trending with the idea, and people were asking each other about the discovery, all of which left out a key word in the conclusion: may be.

Even as the conclusion was drawn, the astronomer pointed out that extraterrestrial involvement in the phenomenon was simply one of many possibilities. None the less, that didn’t stop the headlines. “Alien Megastructure Discovered!” was a common line across the internet, completely ignoring the lack of any conformation or hard evidence.

Luckily, this case of scientific misinformation was not harmful. There have been many cases in the past of people spreading ‘facts’ about important things, such as the effect of cigarettes and alcohol, which were untrue or simply misleading. These cases can lead to dangerous outcomes.

It is important in the scientific community to be responsible about the information you spread, and the case of the ‘alien megastructure’ is an example of what can happen when sensationalism comes before facts.   

One thought on “Alien Megastructure Discovered! (Not Really)

  1. Diego

    Very-well written, thanks for this blog. Usually I read blogs were many of its context simply didn’t make any sense. However I can see hoy you are clearly skilled at writing and keeping the readers attention. I hardly stay focused reading line by line from top to bottom, but somehow you managed to do it.
    Now regarding the article, I truly agree with your point of view. Everything was excellent. If it was my blog I might have added that this things tend to happen because media tends to incline on sensationalism because it is what it sells the most. People have a lousy intuition and any would easily believe anything they read in the media such as the example you just explained in your blog. Despite that, I appreciate how you used a very recent article about it and the best part is that the source was an astronomer from The Pennsylvania State University. All a blog needs is being well-written, and having at least one credible source. You did that plus made it more appealing by relating it to a recent article and to someone we both can relate to (someone for Penn State). So far all your blogs have been great!

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