If a tree falls in the woods…

Courtesy USA Today

You may have encountered this question in school in a philosophy or logic class.  The question went something like “If a tree falls in the woods, does it make a noise?”

The professor obviously wanted you to think clearly about the word “noise” and depending upon how you defined it, the correct answer to the question could be yes or no.

Well, in USA Today, the press clearly had no idea what they were saying with the headline:

“Space sounds are creepy. We have the audio to prove it.”  See for yourself. 

Anyone familiar with space knows that sound does not propagate.  Light does of course, but having no medium to transmit sound, space is completely silent even if a bomb went off right next to you.  You need molecules of some gas to propagate sound.  So, we have absolutely no idea what anything in space sounds like.