"Greg Crinklaw" wrote in message
...
LenderBroker wrote:
THEMIS' images show images of valleys with extensive branching,
typical of the erosion on Earth caused by rainwater, as well as
meandering curves and inner channels on the valley floors.

It never ceases to amaze me how a publicity department can make what has
been known for years appear to have been discovered yesterday (by the
scientists they are publicizing, of course). This sort of hyperbole
needs to be stopped, and I say the responsibility lies with the
scientists whose work is being reported to keep the hyperbole out of
these publicity announcements.


Sorry, but it won't go away, because all science needs funding, from all
possible sources, and if you're going to get funding from people with a
minimal knowledge (and sometimes interest) in science, you need to put in
the WOW! factor. And one way to do it is hyperbole, exaggerated claims, et
al. It might grate on the science purists, hence it does grate on me, and
leads to claims that are prematurely made and not substantiate by later
experiments/observations, but this is the nature of the beast. How to
reform it? I don't know. Government funding works the same way, and for
the same reasons. Even for those who know more science than the average
Joe, not a hard thing to do or accomplish, a little exaggeration never hurt
to promote your cause.

I guess the best advice to this situation comes from my Brooklyn friends;
they would say, "Deal with it." ^_^
--
Sincerely,
--- Dave

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A man is a god in ruins.
--- Duke Ellington
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