“NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope may have discovered tentative evidence of a sign of life on a faraway planet,” reports the BBC.
It may have detected a molecule called dimethyl sulphide (DMS). On Earth, at least, this is only produced by life.
The researchers stress that the detection on the planet 120 light years away is “not robust” and more data is needed to confirm its presence.
Researchers have also detected methane and CO2 in the planet’s atmosphere.
Detection of these gases could mean the planet, named K2-18b, has a water ocean.
Prof Nikku Madhusudhan, of the University of Cambridge, who led the research, told BBC News that his entire team were ”shocked” when they saw the results.
“On Earth, DMS is only produced by life. The bulk of it in Earth’s atmosphere is emitted from phytoplankton in marine environments,” he said.
But Prof Madhusudhan described the detection of DMS as tentative and said that more data would be needed to confirm its presence. Those results are expected in a year.
”If confirmed, it would be a huge deal and I feel a responsibility to get this right if we are making such a big claim.”
It is the first time astronomers have detected the possibility of DMS in a planet orbiting a distant star. But they are treating the results with caution, noting that a claim made in 2020 about the presence of another molecule, called phosphine, that could be produced by living organisms in the clouds of Venus was disputed a year later.
Even so, Dr Robert Massey, who is independent of the research and deputy director of the Royal Astronomical Society in London, said he was excited by the results.
”We are slowly moving towards the point where we will be able to answer that big question as to whether we are alone in the Universe or not,” he said.
”I’m optimistic that we will one day find signs of life. Perhaps it will be this, perhaps in 10 or even 50 years we will have evidence that is so compelling that it is the best explanation.”
More at this link: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-66786611
In other news, a NASA scientist believes there is life on hellishly-hot Venus.
Water, a potential building block of life, was recently found in a nearby solar system.
In other news, India recently became the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the moon.
New asteroid-spotting software could help save life on Earth.
The earth itself is getting greener. “The amount of vegetation growing on the earth has been increasing every year for at least 30 years,” notes Human Progress. “The greening of the earth means more food for animals and greater crop yields for humans,” observes Matt Ridley.
Malnutrition has fallen to its lowest level ever worldwide.
