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.
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."
-
October 19 editorial cartoonsCartoons Sunday's editorial cartoons include Pete Hegseth and the press, an absence of government, and George Washington crossing the Delaware
-
A little-visited Indian Ocean archipelagoThe Week Recommends The paradise of the Union of the Comoros features beautiful beaches, colourful coral reefs and lush forests
-
AI: is the bubble about to burst?In the Spotlight Stock market ever-more reliant on tech stocks whose value relies on assumptions of continued growth and easy financing
-
The moon is rustingUnder the radar The Earth is likely to blame
-
Africa could become the next frontier for space programsThe Explainer China and the US are both working on space applications for Africa
-
NASA reveals ‘clearest sign of life’ on Mars yetSpeed Read The evidence came in the form of a rock sample collected on the planet
-
SpaceX breaks Starship losing streak in 10th testspeed read The Starship rocket's test flight was largely successful, deploying eight dummy satellites during its hour in space
-
NASA is moving away from tracking climate changeThe Explainer Climate missions could be going dark
-
Atoms into gold: alchemy's modern resurgenceUnder the radar The practice of alchemy has been attempted for thousands of years
-
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
