Professor Rick Greenberg was recently contacted by a high school student regarding an excerpt from the 2009 AP English Language and Composition Exam. It turns out that a piece on planetary protection (Greenberg, Richard, and B. Randall Tufts. "Infecting Other Worlds" American Scientist Jul.-Aug. 2001. 24 Feb. 2008) was used as as a question on the test (see Source F here).

The student emailed Rick to ask whether this piece was "serious or satirical." Rick concludes that, "she couldn't tell which, so I guess that says something about the piece or about the subject!"