3255: Planetary Science

Planetary Science

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Title text: The research was overseen by the Institutional Review Board, which is what I named my surfboard.

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Explanation

This is one of 44 incomplete explanations: This comic was found on a planet with internet on it! If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

This comic is presented as a scientific article in which astronomers claim to have discovered "signs of liquid water on the surface of a terrestrial planet in the habitable zone" -- however, as the accompanying photos (four people on a beach, of whom two are sitting under an umbrella and one is making sand castles) show, the planet in question is Earth. This would not be considered a noteworthy discovery.^{[citation needed]} Finding other planets that have liquid water is a notable result, as water is necessary to support life, so a planet with water could possibly have life on it. However, we already know about life on Earth existing, so this article is hardly useful or practical.

There is value in using Earth as an example of a planet in a habitable zone, such as testing life-detection experiments in remote inhospitable environments or as a proxy for future astronomical observations, but not in-situ photographic investigation. Maybe the astronomers should have brought their spectrometer on vacation.

An institutional review board is a committee of researchers which ensures that research carried out at their institution is ethical. In the title text, this is referenced to be the literal name of a surfboard, which is a board used for the recreational activity of surfing, not serious academic activities. Presumably one of the researchers used this as an excuse to post their pictures of a surfing holiday. Of course, 'the Institutional Review Board' is a very strange name for a surfboard,^{[citation needed]} and its only purpose would be for this (somewhat bad) excuse.

Transcript

This is one of 27 incomplete transcripts: Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

[An article from a journal is shown.]

[Title of journal article:] Evidence for Liquid Water on the Surface of a Terrestrial Planet in the Habitable Zone

[Below the title are four lines of blurred text presumably representing the name of the author or authors and their affiliations. Below that, the text of the article is blurred, displayed in two columns. There are three sections of blurred text each with a blurred boldface heading. Two pictures are included amid the blurred text. The picture in the left column shows the sea running alongside a beach. The picture in the right column shows Jill and Kidball playing at the beach, with Jill running and Kidball building a sandcastle, while Cueball and Megan are sitting under a beach umbrella watching them.]

[Caption below the article:]

Planetary science journals have asked astronomers to please stop submitting their vacation photos.

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Discussion

Hey I discovered sentient creatures on the planet! --Kirinhatchi (talk) 14:37, 5 June 2026 (UTC)

"Sentient" :D :D 130.76.187.47 14:58, 5 June 2026 (UTC)

I used to think there was intelligent life. Then they elected Trump. Barmar (talk) 15:39, 5 June 2026 (UTC)

Earth can be used as a test case for detectors of life. If your method is not detecting life on earth, then your detector produces too many false negatives. For instance the galileo space probe was tested with Earth during a fly-by, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_project#Remote_detection_of_life_on_Earth. --2001:4091:A241:81DC:E857:F66B:684E:C4FD 18:25, 5 June 2026 (UTC)

iNaturalist has a similar issue. Members submit cat-pics and selfies etc as examples of "living things". Which is correct; but they do not want a billion cat or selfy pics crowding out all other life. I have submitted observations of Cypripedium acaule (Pink Lady's Slipper) cuz they are semi-common here but globally rare, pretty to see, and somewhat threatened. --PRR (talk) 22:48, 5 June 2026 (UTC)
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