Ohio University Professor Believes Bugs Are on Mars, is a Conspiracy Trying to Silence Him?

Is this a tiny Martian?

Could there be life on Mars in the form of insects and could a government conspiracy be afoot to suppress it? At a November 19 meeting of the Entomological Society of America, William Romoser, emeritus professor of medical entomology at Ohio University, went so far to say that, based upon his findings, “there has been and still is life on Mars” based on pictures snapped from NASA's Mars rovers that seemed to show insect-like forms.

The overwhelming response, not surprisingly, was harsh and the official retraction quick, perhaps too quick. First, though, some background.

In science, reputation is no protection against criticism. Romoser's credentials are impressive. Having earned his doctorate in 1964, Romoser served at Ohio State University along with the Universities of Florida and Georgia for short stints before joining the Army's Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases, where he worked for 20 years before joining Ohio University as an emeritus professor of medical entomology. In that time, he published dozens of peer-reviewed papers and even wrote a textbook (since updated several times) on the subject.

As for the criticism from his peers, there is a common thread: pareidolia. What is pareidolia? It is the act of perceiving things that don't really exist. Common examples include seeing a face in the Moon and shapes in clouds. Yes, we all know that there is no Man in the Moon and that there really isn't a tree (or whatever else) in the clouds but, as we all know, we sure do perceive these things as being there. The most famous case of Martian pareidolia (among many) is the 'Face' on Mars, which was first seen during the Viking missions in the mid 1970s but that was later shown via higher resolution photographs to be nothing more than just the average hill hit with a convenient angle of sunlight. As for Romoser, many critics think that what he is seeing on Mars is nothing more than bits of rock that look like insects, which would be easy for him to notice after 50+ years spent looking at insects here on Earth.

As for NASA, the space agency has issued its own rebuttal to Rosomer's claims but says that its upcoming rover, set to land in February, 2021, will be equipped to look for evidence of ancient Martian life. Others even went so far to say that Romoser's idea could damage the search for alien life.

While the criticism was to be expected, an unexpected development (according to some) has also followed: many references to the story have disappeared from the Internet.

Many web pages about this story are now gone. The web page on Ohio University's website detailing Romoser's presentation has been removed, with the University later adding through its media relations department that Romoser no longer wishes to engage with the press. Additionally, an announcement on Eureka Alert, a press release platform operated by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, was also deleted “at the request of the submitter.” Phys Org also removed a web page dealing with the topic. Now for the kicker: Romoser's own website is now offline and listed as private.

So, could a conspiracy be afoot to suppress the idea that there are insects on Mars? Hardly.

Retractions in the scientific community are nothing new. There is now even an online database of retracted scientific papers. So far, there are over 18,000 unpublished papers now online and counting. When considering this whole series of events, one must remember that, at its core, science is a process of asking questions and drawing conclusions, which may or may not be correct. This is how science has operated since Ancient Greece and is how it will continue to (hopefully) operate centuries into the future. The real difference now is the advent of the Internet and now social media, which has allowed anyone to post anything without review, instantaneously.

Romoser's claim was sensational, no doubt. As a result, once it was initially picked up online, it spread like wildfire around online media, where both career scientists and the general public read about it. The observation of 'insects' on Mars being almost certainly wrong but explainable by other means (pareidolia), criticism was sure to come, which it did from both. In years past, the criticism would have come as a trickle as (mostly) scientists would have written personally to Romoser, Ohio University, or even the Entomological Society of America in order to question the findings in a professional manner.

Come 2019, things couldn't be more different. Now, instead of picking up a paper and pen, hand-writing a letter at a table/desk, and then putting it in a stamped (the horror of having to buy a stamp!) envelope, anyone can pick up their phone, tap out a message, and send it to its intended target electronically and instantaneously. These messages can come by way of email, social media, and even the comments sections of news outlets that have the function. Not having access to associated parties' email accounts and wanting to stay out of the sewer that is social media, I can only view the public comments sections on online news sites, many of which were pretty ugly and often of personal, not professional, nature when it came to Romoser himself.

In the end, it probably wasn't some conspiracy by NASA/the government that caused Romoser and Ohio University to backtrack in surprising haste. In all probability it was the social media lynch mob, which in itself can be dangerous to the very concept of a free society, that probably caused the quick retraction as Romoser and Ohio University were probably deluged with a tsunami of hate mail that neither wanted to deal with. This is ironic because the internet was supposed to encourage, not suppress, the willingness to speak openly.

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