As I read more about this from various news sources, I am gradually coming to realize that this hubbub is really a case of bad news reporting. It seems that some news articles misrepresent the funding and the institutional provenance of the paper, and I am also getting the sense that they also misrepresent the content of the paper. Some journalists have magnified one small aspect of the paper (the hypothetical scenario involving aliens and climate change) in order to exploit the controversy. In other words, twist the truth to sell the story and make a big splash.

I'm sorry I brought such junk news to your attention. I just thought it might be helpful and fun to see that scientists are also thinking about (and therefore prepare for) end-of-the-world scenarios.

Da Bing