Your argument isn’t off to a great start when you undermine it in your title.

But that’s exactly what astronomer Phil Plait does with his Scientific American piece “Nope-It’s Never Aliens,” published Monday. That title, so declarative in its contention, is incompatible with Plait’s later assertion that he “took up science as a career and critical thinking as a passion.” There isn’t much evidence of critical thinking on display in that title. Indeed, it’s a direct repudiation of that critical scientific interest. This is a shame. Plait’s writing includes many interesting reports on Space and science.