2012-11-30
Explanation
This comic contrasts how NASA announcements actually work versus how the public wishes they would work. In the first panel, labeled "How NASA Announcements Work," a woman at a podium announces, "We'''ve discovered something important, but no details are available in the near future." This captures the frustrating reality of how NASA often teases major discoveries with vague press releases days before the actual announcement, leaving the public to speculate wildly.
In the second panel, labeled "How NASA Announcements Should Work," the same woman stands at a board with just two options: "Aliens" (with a green box) and "Not Aliens" (with a purple box marked with an X). The joke is that since everyone'''s first question upon hearing about a NASA discovery is always "Is it aliens?", the agency should just cut to the chase and answer that one burning question immediately, rather than dragging out the suspense.
The votey panel takes this further by proposing a more detailed gradient scale ranging from "Aliens" at the top through "Life on Mars, but it'''s just Elon Musk, somehow," "Life-related chemicals," and "Cool extremophiles found on Earth" down to "No Aliens" at the bottom. This expanded scale humorously acknowledges the spectrum of possible discoveries that NASA might announce, while poking fun at how the public really only cares about where each discovery falls on the aliens-to-no-aliens continuum.