Journal of Cosmology

The Journal of Cosmology is an online publication that contains material on a wide range of subjects in cosmology, astronomy, astrobiology, and Earth and planetary sciences. Writing on biology, geology, physics, chemistry, extinction, the origin and evolution of life, panspermia and Martian colonization and exploration has all been published.

{{cite web

|author=N. K. Geranios

|date=15 November 2010

|title=Scientists propose one-way trips to Mars

|url=http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40194872/

|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130104002115/http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40194872/%23.TpCN-N5fbvM

|url-status=dead

|archive-date=4 January 2013

|work=MSNBC

|access-date=2011-10-08

}}

The quality of the claimed peer review has been heavily criticized.

{{cite web

|author=I. O'Neil

|date=7 March 2011

|title=NASA Refutes Alien Discovery Claim

|url=http://news.discovery.com/space/nasa-refutes-alien-discovery-claim-110307.html

|work=Discovery News

|access-date=2011-03-07

}}

{{cite web

|author=P. Z. Myers

|author-link=PZ Myers

|date=6 March 2011

|title=Did Scientists Discover Bacteria in Meteorites?

|url=https://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/03/06/did-scientists-discover-bacter

|work=Pharyngula

|access-date=2011-03-06

}}

{{cite web

|author=P. Plait

|author-link=Phil Plait

|date=7 March 2011

|title=Followup Thoughts on the Meteorite Fossils Claims

|url=http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/03/07/followup-thoughts-on-the-meteorite-fossils-claim/

|work=Discover Magazine

|access-date=2011-03-06

}}

The website promotes fringe viewpoints and speculative viewpoints on astrobiology, astrophysics, and quantum physics. Skeptical blogger and biologist PZ Myers said that "it isn't a real science journal at all, but [the] website of a small group... obsessed with the idea of Hoyle and Wickramasinghe that life originated in outer space and simply rained down on Earth."{{cite web

|author=P. Z. Myers

|author-link=PZ Myers

|date=23 July 2009

|title=An Amusingly Suspicious "Paper"

|url=http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/07/an_amusingly_suspicious_paper.php

|work=Pharyngula

|access-date=2011-03-06

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110826223455/http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/07/an_amusingly_suspicious_paper.php

|archive-date=26 August 2011

|url-status=dead

}} It was identified as a predatory journal by Jeffrey Beall.

Scientists who have posted accounts of personal attacks by the journal's staff members include Susan Blackmore,{{Cite web |url=http://www.susanblackmore.co.uk/Chapters/neurotheologyold3.htm |title="A note on the book 'Neurotheology' ", Susan Blackmore, April 2007, susanblackmore.co.uk |access-date=7 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150107222033/http://www.susanblackmore.co.uk/Chapters/neurotheologyold3.htm |archive-date=7 January 2015 |url-status=dead }} David Brin,[http://www.sentientdevelopments.com/2009/09/explanation-for-lifes-origins-that.html "An "explanation" for life's origins that falls way short", David Brin, 23 September 2009, "Sentient Developments"] and PZ Myers.[http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/07/20/professional-science-journalis/ "Professional science journalism", PZ Myers, 20 July 2011, "Pharyngula"]

In early March 2011, a controversy erupted

{{cite magazine

|author=D. Dobbs

|date=6 March 2011

|title=Aliens Riding Meteorites: Arsenic Redux or Something New?

|url=https://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/03/aliens-riding-meteorites-arsenic-redux-or-something-new/

|magazine=Wired

|access-date=2011-03-06

}} over the publication of a paper by Richard B. Hoover,

{{cite journal

|author=R. B. Hoover

|date=5 March 2011

|title=Fossils of Cyanobacteria in CI1 Carbonaceous Meteorites

|website=Journal of Cosmology

|url=http://journalofcosmology.com/Life102.html

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226002912/http://journalofcosmology.com/Life102.html

|url-status=dead

|archive-date=26 December 2018

|volume=13

}} a retired NASA scientist, with claims of evidence in meteorites that life on Earth could have come from space via debris carrying life from a comet. The website published a dismissal of the criticism as "a barrage of slanderous attacks" from "crackpots and charlatans", calling themesleves courageous for resisting the "terrorists" whose actions they equated with the Inquisition.

{{cite journal

|date=8 March 2011

|title=The Controversy of the Hoover Meteorite Study: Official Statement The Journal of Cosmology, Have the Terrorists Won?

|journal=Journal of Cosmology

}}

:The statement was taken down, but a copy of the original can be found at {{cite web

|author=D. Dobbs

|date=10 March 2011

|title=Journal of Cosmology calls criticism of Hoover alien paper a witchhunt

|url=http://daviddobbs.posterous.com/journal-of-cosmology-calls-criticism-of-hoove

|work=David Dobbs's Somatic Marker

|access-date=2011-09-22

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130414100927/http://daviddobbs.posterous.com/journal-of-cosmology-calls-criticism-of-hoove

|archive-date=14 April 2013

|url-status=dead

}}

NASA distanced itself from Hoover's findings,

{{cite web

|date=8 March 2011

|title=NASA shoots down alien fossil claims

|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-03-08/nasa-shoots-down-alien-fossil-claims/2666046

|publisher=ABC News

|access-date=2011-10-09

}} and issued a statement saying that the paper had been previously submitted in 2007 to International Journal of Astrobiology which did not accept it for review.

{{cite web

|agency=Associated Press

|date=7 March 2011

|title=Scientists skeptical of meteorite alien life claim

|url=http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/4187965-418/scientists-skeptical-of-meteorite-alien-life-claim.html

|work=Chicago Sun-Times

|access-date=2011-10-09

}}

On 11 March, in an open letter to the editors of Science and Nature, Schild proposed to establish a commission to investigate the validity of the Hoover paper, which would be led by three experts appointed by Journal of Cosmology, Science and Nature.

{{cite journal

|author=R. Schild

|date=11 March 2011

|title=The Journal of Cosmology Proposes a Scientific Commission, Established Co-Jointly with Science and Nature, To Investigate & Confirm the Validity of the Hoover Paper

|journal=Journal of Cosmology

}}

:A copy of the original can be found at {{cite web

|author=G. Munevar

|date=25 March 2011

|title=A New Controversy

|url=http://philosophyofspaceexploration.blogspot.com/2011/03/new-controversy.html

|work=Philosophy of Space Exploration

|access-date=2011-10-09

}} Schild said he would interpret "any refusal to cooperate, no matter what the excuse" from Nature or Science as "vindication for the Journal of Cosmology and the Hoover paper, and an acknowledgment that the editorial policies of the Journal of Cosmology are beyond reproach". Schild subsequently issued another statement standing by their publication process and suggesting that criticisms were "slander and histrionic tirades", and comparing their critics to "lunatics... unleashed to throw filth", suggesting that their own actions were part of a 2000-year struggle of science against religion. Since their critics had "refused to cooperate" in a review, they reaffirmed the study to be "beyond reproach".

{{cite web

|author=D. Dobbs

|date=18 March 2011

|title=Cosmology journal declares war won, enemies evil, new Galileo

|url=http://daviddobbs.posterous.com/cosmology-journal-declares-war-won-enemies-ev

|work=Posterous

|access-date=2011-10-12

}}

File:PIA17942-MarsOpportunityRover-PinnacleIslandRockMysterySolved-20140204.jpg" rock was dislodged by the Opportunity rover]]

The James Randi Educational Foundation awarded Hoover the tongue-in-cheek Pigasus Award, for repeatedly announcing, "[a]long with the crackpot Journal of Cosmology",{{cite web

|author=S. Crabtree

|date=1 April 2011

|title=The 5 Worst Promoters of Nonsense

|url=http://www.randi.org/site/jref-news/1260-pigasus-2011

|publisher=James Randi Educational Foundation

|access-date=2011-10-09

}} widely dismissed claims that he had found signs of life in Mars rocks.

{{cite web

| author=R. Mestel

| date=1 April 2011

| title=Dr. Oz, Andrew Wakefield and others, um, 'honored' by James Randi

| url=https://www.latimes.com/health/la-xpm-2011-apr-01-la-heb-dr-oz-andrew-wakefield-james-randi-awards-20110401-story.html

| work=Los Angeles Times

| access-date=2011-04-02

}}

{{see also|Opportunity (rover)#2014}}

On 17 January 2014, NASA reported that a martian rock, named "Pinnacle Island", that was not in an Opportunity rover image taken on Sol 3528, "mysteriously" appeared 13 days later in a similar image taken on Sol 3540. One possible explanation, presented by Steven Squyres, principal investigator of the Mars Exploration Rover Mission, was that the rover, in one of its turning motions, flicked the rock from a few feet away and into the new location.{{cite web |last=O'Neill |first=Ian |title=Mystery Rock 'Appears' in Front of Mars Rover|url=http://www.space.com/24330-mars-rover-mystery-rock-appears.html |date=17 January 2014 |work=Space.com |access-date=18 January 2014 }}{{cite news|last=Chang |first=Kenneth |title=Mars Rover Marks an Unexpected Anniversary With a Mysterious Discovery|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/24/science/space/mars-rover-marks-an-unexpected-anniversary-with-a-mysterious-discovery.html |date=24 January 2014 |work=New York Times | access-date=24 January 2014 }} In response to the finding, Rhawn Joseph published an article on the website on 17 January 2014, concluding that the object is in fact a living organism resembling apothecia.{{cite journal | title = Apothecia on Mars? Life Discovered on the Red Planet | journal = Journal of Cosmology | date = 17 January 2014 | first = Rhawn Gabriel | last = Joseph| url = http://cosmology.com/ApotheciaOnMars.html | access-date = 1 February 2014}} Joseph then filed a writ of mandamus on 27 January 2014 in San Francisco Federal Court, demanding that NASA examine the rock more closely.{{cite web |last=Lecher |first=Colin |title=Lawsuit Alleges NASA Is Failing To Investigate Alien Life|url=http://www.popsci.com/article/science/lawsuit-alleges-nasa-failing-investigate-alien-life |work=Popular Science |date=28 January 2014 |access-date=31 January 2014 }}{{cite web|last=Weiss |first=Debra Cassens |title=Suit says NASA was 'recklessly negligent and bizarre' for failing to investigate Mars rock| url=http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/suit_says_nasa_was_recklessly_negligent_and_bizarre_for_failing_to_take_clo|work=American Bar Association |date=29 January 2014 |access-date=31 January 2014 }}{{cite web |last=Bailey |first=Lorraine |url=http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/01/29/64918.htm |title=Is Mysterious Mars Rock a Fungus? |work=Courthouse News Service |date=29 January 2014 |access-date=31 January 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201231956/http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/01/29/64918.htm |archive-date=1 February 2014 }}

NASA had already examined the rock on 8 January 2014[http://mars.nasa.gov/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1585 OPPORTUNITY UPDATE]: sols 3541–3547, 8 January 2014 – 15 January 2014. and confirmed it was a rock with a high sulphur, manganese, and magnesium content.{{cite web |author=Staff |title=Scientist closer to solving Mars rock mystery, says NASA expert |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/10594511/Scientists-closer-to-solving-Mars-rock-mystery-says-Nasa-expert.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140125204219/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/10594511/Scientists-closer-to-solving-Mars-rock-mystery-says-Nasa-expert.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 January 2014 |work=The Telegraph |date=24 January 2014 |access-date=31 January 2014}} According to Squyres, "We have looked at it with our microscope. It is clearly a rock." On 14 February 2014, NASA released an image showing the location from where the "Pinnacle Island" rock was dislodged by the Opportunity rover.

{{reflist}}

• {{cite web

|author=P. Plait

|date=7 March 2011

|title=Followup thoughts on the meteorite fossils claim

|url=http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/03/07/followup-thoughts-on-the-meteorite-fossils-claim/

|work=Bad Astronomy

|publisher=Discover

|access-date=2011-09-22

}}

• {{Official website|https://thejournalofcosmology.com}} - [https://web.archive.org/web/20210515185233/http://journalofcosmology.com/About.html May 2021 archived version]

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Astronomical controversies

Category:Fringe science journals

Category:Panspermia

Category:Academic journals established in 2009

Category:Open access journals

Category:Astronomy journals