microbes happily cling to spacecraft

An example of anthropomorphism in popular scence writing:

"No matter how much a spacecraft is sterilised before launch, there will still be millions of terrestrial microbes happily clinging to it."

Andrew May

May, A. (2019) Astrobiology: The Search for Life Elsewhere in the Universe

Read about anthropomorphism

Read examples of anthropomorphism in science

Many examples of anthropomorphism are listed in 'Creative comparisons: Making science familiar through language. An illustrative catalogue of figurative comparisons and analogies for science concepts'. Free Download.

Author: Keith

Former school and college science teacher, teacher educator, research supervisor, and research methods lecturer. Emeritus Professor of Science Education at the University of Cambridge.