apollak

Fountains of EnceladusYesterday's short lived rumor of "NASA to announce discovery of life in our solar system" news fired up a charged atmosphere in our office for a few hours. At about 11 AM someone in the office sent me a link to The Drudge Report where there was a link to a Florida TV station that started the rumor mill spinning . Immediately everyone lit up with speculative excitement. Someone contacted her astronomy-scientist friends, everyone forwarded the links around. Lisa's perfect response when I sent her an instant message was "I, for one, welcome our new alien overlords." The Simpson's Kent Brockman knee jerk media exaggeration and reaction couldn't have been used for a better real-world story. As it tuned out the announcement was not about the discovery of life but about the suspected discovery of water springs on an obscure, icy moon of Saturn called Enceladus. Still exciting stuff (I love the photos of the "fountains" - one pictured here compliments of NASA) but not E.T-exciting. What I found most amazing about the whole thing was that  everyone was excited but no one was surprised. Everyone expects extra-terrestrial life to be found in our lifetime. Expects it. We're waiting for it. All the movies and promises of progress have primed us to hold a constant, silent vigil in the back of our minds waiting, waiting, waiting.