A few questions for NASA

Does NASA engage in building unnecessary suspense? Regardless, the wording of their press release preceding today's press conference certainly built suspense, and NASA did little or nothing to combat this. So, was the hype useful? Did the suspense help garner public attention? Certainly. But for those expecting ET on stage, does the let-down hurt NASA?

The story seems to be doing pretty well in the media, so did the hype over this press conference goad the media into covering a story they might otherwise have glossed over? And to what degree was the media's focus on the hype itself rather than the science at hand? At least one reporter from the USA Today claimed their readers were disappointed and asked the scientists to explain they unnecessary hype.

Indeed, to scientists, this was a rather important discovery. To those in the biology, biochemestry, and astrobiology fields, many of whom had preliminary access to the embargoed paper, the story warranted hype. Perhaps the folks at NASA saw nothing wrong with the rampant speculation, since they were themselves rather excited.

In the end, I'm most interested in how this hoopla and related media coverage reveals the schism between the public and the science community. What can we do to bridge this gap?

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