Posted: Mar 17, 2014 10:40 am
hackenslash wrote:Ironclad wrote:In an attempt to sound like I know something for a change: aren't these the folk controlling Kepler, the programme seeking Earth-like planets?
They are, yes. One of the things Carroll mentioned in his blog about what the announcement might concern is finding extraterrestrial life...
That would be so awesome - not particularly for the science, but for what it would mean to people. Gravitational waves would be unlikely to have much effect on the world outside of physics - even if it lead to vast new understandings, it would likely go over the heads of most people in the world. But a discovery of life on another planet is a story simple enough that people couldn't easily ignore it (thought I'm sure Ken Ham still would). It's something that could have a very unifying effect on the world.