Hi Randman,
You seem to be in a big hurry to rush to judgment, and I think it is causing you to misunderstand what Quetzal is saying. I'll try to explain.
randman writes:
As yet, there is nothing more than the scientific equivalent of Vreeland's say-so.
If you are not going to acknowledge the published science articles as more than someone's say-so, and refuse to engage the facts, we have nothing to discuss.
Your excerpt from Quetzal's message was part of a longer passage. Quetzal was only explaining that in science accepting unreplicated results would be like taking someone's word on just their say-so. It was not intended as a disparaging comment about Vreeland's research techniques. Hence, when you proceed in this manner:
Address the facts, acknowledge the issues raised in the studies and the arguments involved and state how you think they are flawed or whatever. Merely claiming published articles in peer-reviewed literature is merely someone's say-so means nothing and imo, is a total dodge of the thread topic.
It indicates that you've completely missed the point. Aside from mentioning that contamination by modern or more common strains is a constant and difficult problem for all researchers of rare or ancient bacteria, Quetzal hasn't issued any charges that Vreeland's approach and techniques are incorrect or wrong or flawed. His primary point is that such unexpected results should await replication before exploring the issues surrounding their incorporation into evolutionary theory. The implications you're anticipating may one day have to be faced, but until these results are replicated that day is not today.
Modern science
*does* have a process that it follows, and replication is a longstanding part of that process. So it makes it all the more bizarre when your reaction to a typically conservative scientific attitude is to go off half-cocked complaining that problems are being ignored and facts are not being addressed and the topic is being dodged. My suggestion is to display some patience and await replication.
--Percy