[meteorite-list] Science Loses When PR Becomes Top Priority(Brenham Meteorites)

From: Rob Wesel <rob_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue Nov 7 01:06:51 2006
Message-ID: <002401c70232$eac99bd0$d8271518_at_robc95bc401755>

Man is this guy bitter, here's his email address if you wish to send him an
e-hug.

kre787f_at_missouristate.edu

Rob Wesel
http://www.nakhladogmeteorites.com
------------------
We are the music makers...
and we are the dreamers of the dreams.
Willy Wonka, 1971


----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Baalke" <baalke_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
To: "Meteorite Mailing List" <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Monday, November 06, 2006 9:57 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Science Loses When PR Becomes Top Priority(Brenham
Meteorites)


>
> http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061106/OPINIONS02/611060326/1006/OPINIO
>
> Science loses when PR becomes top priority
> Kevin Evans
> Voice of the Day
> November 6, 2006
>
> In the last couple of weeks, there has been tremendous media attention
> given to the Houston Museum of Natural History and NASA scientists'
> "discovery" and recovery of a 154-pound Brenham meteorite fragment in a
> Kansas wheat field. Their use of ground-penetrating radar was touted for
> its potential in exploration of the planet Mars.
>
> What the world doesn't know is that Katie Click, an 18-year-old high
> school senior from Springfield, working on a project in conjunction with
> her earth science teacher and Missouri State University scientists, made
> a similar discovery just two miles away from the Kansas site, using the
> same GPR technology, two weeks earlier.
>
> The difference - aside from the reported $50,000 the museum paid for
> their discovery - is that Katie was conducting her research for the
> Ozark Science and Engineering Fair. Science teachers train young
> scientists to formulate multiple working hypotheses, to test hypotheses
> by making observations and collecting data, to integrate and interpret
> the data, and to present the results in scientific meetings or
> literature, where it is subject to critical review and discussion among
> the scientific community. Unfortunately, in the course of conducting her
> science fair project, she has just learned an important new step in the
> scientific method - contact the media first.
>
> There are also some factual issues related to the discovery that need to
> be addressed. In the first place, this is not the first or biggest
> Brenham meteorite found. Second, it is not the first use of GPR to image
> buried impact craters or meteorites. In fact, it is not even the first
> Brenham meteorite to be imaged using GPR. Katie did that two weeks
> earlier when she pushed a GPR over Haviland crater, the only known
> impact crater associated with the Brenham meteorite, and a short
> distance away from the "discovery" locality.
>
> It is ironic that two teams converged with the same ideas to determine
> the age and image the impact horizon with GPR, since the last major
> scientific effort to examine the Haviland crater and its
> meteorite-strewn field was in 1933. Initial reports from the last
> expedition mentioned the possibility of the largest meteorite fragment.
> It turned out to be cable from an oil rig. Some later reports are also
> in error. The precise age of the impact is unknown. The Earth Impact
> Database estimate an age of 1,000-2,000 years, but these are only
> estimates. Scientists in the 1960s confirmed that American Indian beads
> made from the Brenham meteorite were found in burial mounds of the
> Hopewell Culture, which lasted from 200 B.C. to 400 A.D., so the age of
> the impact has to be at least 1,600 years old.
>
> The bottom line is: you can't look at sediments and determine their ages
> in the field. It requires careful laboratory analyses and collection of
> samples from locations that are conducive to preserving carbon, such as
> along a horizon rich in meteoritic material. The meteorite hunter who
> guided the Houston science team clearly wasn't interested in gaining
> contextual information on the fragmentation and impact of the Brenham
> meteorite when he dug up meteorites over the last two years, including
> the 650 kg specimen that was the second largest recovered.
>
> The commercial meteorite market has a seamy underside. "Meteorite
> hunter" may sound like an auspicious-sounding title, but it can be akin
> to tomb raiding. Archeologists and paleontologists are all too familiar
> with commercial collectors in their fields. Meteorites provide the same
> opportunity. At best, meteorite hunters can provide rare or exotic
> specimens for scientific study, but more often than not, vital
> information is destroyed or specimens wind up in the hands of private
> collectors.
>
> When public institutions and government agencies partner with commercial
> enterprises to hunt for meteorites and then publicize undocumented
> claims, it short-circuits science methods and it sends the wrong message
> to students. This concerns me both as a geologist and as a teacher of
> future scientists.
>
> In the last couple of weeks, there has been tremendous media attention
> given to the Houston Museum of Natural History and NASA scientists'
> "discovery" and recovery of a 154-pound Brenham meteorite fragment in a
> Kansas wheat field. Their use of ground-penetrating radar was touted for
> its potential in exploration of the planet Mars.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Kevin Evans is an assistant professor of geography, geology and planning.
>
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Received on Tue 07 Nov 2006 01:06:49 AM PST