The hype around this kid is amazing.
I fear this whole story will be extremely bad for the kid and most news outlets should blame the newspaper instead of focusing on the kid or the bad science part.
[1] http://mobile.lemonde.fr/big-browser/article/2016/05/11/l-hi... [2] http://journalmetro.com/opinions/inspecteur-viral/962214/ce-...
Wouldn't it actually be an excellent example of 'junk science hitting the internet in free-fall' ?
http://gizmodo.com/experts-doubt-that-a-teen-found-a-lost-ma...
FWIW, the CSA doesn't seem to have much of an explanation...
> We asked De Lisle to respond to the claims made by experts that this is “junk science,” and that the objects in the satellite photos are probably abandoned milpas. To which he responded: “The area of interest covers more than 78 square kilometers, and many linear features that appear manmade are visible from space.” Which is not much of an answer.
If the Maya ruins end up being nothing, I think this story is a great example of how silly it is to think of science as one monolithic entity, where every scientist automatically has a clue about fields far outside of their expertise. The CSA were likely impressed with the kid's tracking of the stars...there's no reason to think the CSA has any expertise in what an actual Maya city looks like.
[0]: http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/
edit: oops, I forgot my link
http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/32829/has-a-fift...
> Very few Maya constellations have been identified, and even in these cases we do not know how many and which stars exactly composed each constellation. It is thus impossible to check whether there is any correspondence between the stars and the location of Maya cities. In general, since we know of several environmental facts that influenced the location of Maya settlements, the idea correlating them with stars is utterly unlikely.
> In this case, the rectilinear nature of the feature and the secondary vegetation growing back within it are clear signs of a relic milpa. I’d guess its been fallow for 10-15 years. This is obvious to anyone that has spent any time at all in the Maya lowlands.
I think someone should check it out to be sure.
