Joe.My.God. LGBT News
The New York Times reports:
The search for life beyond Earth has led scientists to explore many suggestive mysteries, from plumes of methane on Mars to clouds of phosphine gas on Venus. But as far as we can tell, Earth’s inhabitants remain alone in the cosmos.
Now a team of researchers is offering what it contends is the strongest indication yet of extraterrestrial life, not in our solar system but on a massive planet, known as K2-18b, that orbits a star 120 light-years from Earth. A repeated analysis of the exoplanet’s atmosphere suggests an abundance of a molecule that on Earth has only one known source: living organisms such as marine algae.
“It is in no one’s interest to claim prematurely that we have detected life,” said Nikku Madhusudhan, an astronomer at the University of Cambridge and an author of the new study, at a news conference on Tuesday. Still, he said, the best explanation for his group’s observations is that K2-18b is covered with a warm ocean, brimming with life.
Read the full article.
Signs of life in space! Scientists using the James Webb telescope detect footprint of gases produced only by biological processes (as far as we know) in an alien planet’s atmosphere. This is K2-18 b. pic.twitter.com/BgdcLT9puN
— Sayoni Aiyar (@sayoniaiyar) April 17, 2025
What we stand to lose if we cut science funding? Many things, including following up on this sign of life
Astronomers Detect a Possible Signature of Life on a Distant Planet https://t.co/yuNwRu2KVe
— Emily Galvin-Almanza (@GalvinAlmanza) April 16, 2025