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When I hear “potential” to harbor life, I think of “potential to harbor life greater than the mean exoplanet.” Otherwise like, why comment on it at all ?

Imagine headlines like “Farm sells latest batch of apples with potential to be a choking hazard.” Wouldn’t it be reasonable to expect the average lay reader to be wary of that farm’s output?

Well I think the problem is with how to interpret that word. The potential is there because these exoplanets are in the habitable zone near their respective stars. That’s the headline and the story: these planets could be habitable and neither the title or article make any claims that they could indeed have any life on them.

'Child born with potential to become a trillionaire' is technically true about any child, but barring some unique aspect of the child is an utterly meaningless headline.

Because it is meaningless bit of information.