Saturday, March 3, 2018

Creation Moment 3/3/2018 - Drunk on Enceladus' Darwine

"Encela-dust

The lemming reporters are also following secular astrobiologists off a cliff at Saturn’s little moon Enceladus. First, the headlines:

  • Could methane on Saturn’s moon Enceladus be a sign of life? (Fox News)
  • Alien life in our Solar System? Study hints at Saturn’s moon (Phys.org)
  • Could Methane on Saturn’s Moon Enceladus Be a Sign of Life? (Mike Wall, Space.com)
  • We may have already found signs of alien microbes on Enceladus (Andy Coghlan, New Scientist)
...now what? Here’s the empirical data: scientists detected some methane in the geyser plumes of this little moon. What this shows is that reporters can get drunk on methane as well as on Darwine. At first, the excitement was all about water coming out (even though it
consists of salty ice crystals and dust). Now, it’s a gas:
To be clear, study team members aren’t claiming that Enceladus’ methane is biological; after all, the substance can be produced geologically as well (by reactions between rock and hot water, in fact). But the new results could help inform the search for life on ocean moons in the solar system, Rittmann said.
This reasoning, too, is based on a flawed syllogism:


Major premise: Some “methanogen” life forms on Earth can metabolize hydrocarbons and give off
methane.
Minor premise: Enceladus has methane.
Conclusion: Enceladus has life.
From an astronomical perspective, future missions to Enceladus or other icy moons should be equipped to be able to detect methanogenic biosignatures related to methanogens, like certain lipids or ratios of certain carbon isotopes,” he said.
Isn’t that what the hype is all about?
--Equipment needs manufacturing.
--Missions with equipment need a space program.
--Astrobiologists need a reason to have a job.
--The public needs hype to influence the government.
--NASA: Send more money!
From dust the astrobiologists came;
to dust they will return." CEH
They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.
Job 17:16