What happened
Astrophysicists reported Wednesday they had found significant evidence that life may exist on a planet called K2-18b, some 124 light years away. The report, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, said NASA's James Webb Space Telescope had detected large amounts of dimethyl sulfide and/or dimethyl disulfide — gasses that on Earth are only created by living organisms — in the exoplanet's atmosphere.
Who said what
Study leader Nikku Madhusudhan, from Cambridge University's Institute of Astronomy, said the new findings point to K2-18b, discovered in 2015, being a "hycean world" covered by a deep ocean "teeming with life." The team didn't prove the existence of alien life, but "this is a revolutionary moment," he said at a news conference. "It's the first time humanity has seen potential biosignatures on a habitable planet."
Other scientists urged caution. A "molecule glimpsed in the air of a planet 729 trillion miles away is a thin reed upon which to rest what would be the historic discovery of alien life," The Washington Post said.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
What next?
The "rich data from K2-18b make it a tantalizing world," and "I look forward to seeing additional, independent work on the data analysis starting as soon as next week," said planetary scientist Christopher Glein of the Southwest Research Institute in Texas, per The New York Times. But "unless we see E.T. waving at us, it's not going to be a smoking gun."
-
A rat infestation is spelling trouble for the almond industryThe Explainer The infestation has affected at least 100,000 acres in California
-
The 5 best singers turned actors of all timethe week recommends It's not often that someone is born with both of these rare skill sets
-
'This is exactly what technology should be doing'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Hurricanes are not exclusive to Earth. They can happen in space.Under the radar These storms may cause navigational problems
-
Rabbits with 'horns' sighted across Coloradospeed read These creatures are infected with the 'mostly harmless' Shope papilloma virus
-
Lithium shows promise in Alzheimer's studySpeed Read Potential new treatments could use small amounts of the common metal
-
Scientists discover cause of massive sea star die-offSpeed Read A bacteria related to cholera has been found responsible for the deaths of more than 5 billion sea stars
-
'Thriving' ecosystem found 30,000 feet underseaSpeed Read Researchers discovered communities of creatures living in frigid, pitch-black waters under high pressure
-
Answers to how life on Earth began could be stuck on MarsUnder the Radar Donald Trump plans to scrap Nasa's Mars Sample Return mission – stranding test tubes on the Red Planet and ceding potentially valuable information to China
-
Bad news, alpha males. You likely don't actually exist.Under the radar Most primate communities are egalitarian
-
Scientists and Peter Jackson attempt to bring back an extinct bird — kind ofIn the Spotlight Colossal Biosciences was the company behind the 'resurrected' dire wolves
