Extraterrestrial intelligence?

[Excited Penguin]

Fixed that for you. The current investigative hypotheses are:

1. there are combinations of known naturalistic phenomena working to create unexpected effects
2. there is/are a new naturalistic phenomenon/phenomena at work, waiting to be discovered
3. there are issues with/impacts on the data that have not yet been corrected for

'Aliens' seems to be a subtly humourous proposal that's been taken too far by the popular press. They could have said 'a fly on the lens' but then the joke wouldn't have sold so well.

Don't be so sure it was a joke. A lot of scientists, I'm sure, are well aware of the Fermi Paradox. I don't think alien life is that much of a preposterous thing to believe in that a joke like that would be made, especially when talking to the media/reporting on a scientific matter.