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malcontented t1_iu02fb6 wrote

Title and first line are misleading

“Ancient bacteria might be sleeping beneath the surface of Mars, where it has been shielded from the harsh radiation of space for millions of years, according to new research.”

Should read: “Ancient bacteria (if it ever existed there) might be sleeping beneath the surface of Mars, where it has been shielded from the harsh radiation of space for millions of years, according to new research.”

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Aethelric t1_iu2rj8r wrote

If you feel that the title is confidently stating that the microbes existed, the problem is yours and not the article's title.

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malcontented t1_iu2skui wrote

Ok so 3rd grade English review, “Ancient microbes” in the title without any qualifiers explicitly states there were ancient microbes.

Hope this helps with your reading comprehension

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Aethelric t1_iu4owuj wrote

I guess if you're bringing the preexisting knowledge of an illiterate child to the equation, which seems likely, that'd be true. Since anyone with even a smattering of knowledge about space knows that we haven't explicitly proved that life exists, the meaning here is clear.

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malcontented t1_iu4qqgf wrote

This was in CNN jerkoff. It’s a general audience and, at best, it was an oversight. At worst it was deliberately misleading

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Aethelric t1_iu4xnc1 wrote

Do you genuinely think that most people reading this go "ah, there must have been life on Mars that I've just never heard about"?

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malcontented t1_iu6mc4q wrote

If you ask the average CNN viewer if we’ve discovered any evidence of microbial life on Mars either currently alive or ancient I’m guessing the percent answering “yes” would be significantly different from zero.

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Aethelric t1_iu6mub4 wrote

Sure, but basing your approach to news as "what would the stupidest person draw from this" would make news far worse than clickbait.

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