It¡¯s not a good look for science when the most hyped, heavily marketed and supposedly transformative discoveries are later discredited.
Among the more spectacular cases were claims that a team of scientists had discovered fossilized Martian life in a meteorite and that spores found in amber and salt crystals had been revived after lying dormant for millions of years. In late July, the research journal Science ?????finally retracted a headline-grabbing study published in 2010, which claimed scientists had found arsenic-based life. NASA had promoted the discovery as bolstering the case for the existence of extraterrestrials and a new tree of earthly life known as the ¡°shadow biosphere.¡±
The good news is that the wider scientific community didn¡¯t buy the hype. Soon after all these bombshells dropped, skeptical scientists took a look at the research and discovered the flaws.
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