Alien Life? (1 Viewer)

[Witz]

An ocean world that's teeming with microbes — and who knows what other kinds of life — is currently the best explanation for some chemical signatures that the James Webb Space Telescope has spotted in the atmosphere of a distant planet.

That's according to Nikku Madhusudhan of the University of Cambridge's Institute of Astronomy, who called his team's new findings "astounding."

"These are the first hints we are seeing of an alien world that is possibly inhabited," he told reporters in a press briefing. "This is a revolutionary moment."

It's also a harbinger of future claims about possible signs of life beyond our solar system that should become increasingly common, as scientists take advantage of the James Webb Space Telescope's unprecedented ability to probe the atmosphere of small planets that orbit far away stars.

In this case, the purportedly tell-tale gases that appear to be in this planet's atmosphere are either dimethyl sulfide, dimethyl disulfide, or some combination of the two. On Earth, these are only produced by life, particularly by marine microbes.


https://www.npr.org/2025/04/16/nx-s1-5364805/signs-life-alien-planet-biosignatures-exoplanet

 

[El Floppo]

Thanks for posting!

I was going to post this in the Astronomy/Physics thread... potentially huge story worthy of being checked out.

 

[foxco]

I'm reaching desparately for things to be excited about these days, and hopefully this will fit the bill. Go science!

 

[Sand]

The Thing awaits under the Antarctic ice...

Scientists detect mysterious radio waves coming from beneath Antarctica’s ice

Researchers found radio waves transmitting from under the ice in Antarctica.

nypost.com

 

[Terminalxylem]

Super interesting.

Now that we’ve smelt it, wonder how long until we find who dealt? Hopefully not lab “error”.

In 1998, Levitt’s team used rectal tubes for a detailed study of fart compositions in six healthy women and 10 healthy men over four hours.4 The total gas the subjects released ranged from 106ml to 1657ml, but only four released any methane, and the biggest farter produced over half a litre of hydrogen. And Levitt’s team’s measurements suggest the smelly components don’t use up much hydrogen either. Together, hydrogen sulfide, methanethiol, which smells of rotten cabbage, and garlic-like dimethyl sulfide on average comprised just 50ppm of each fart.

 

[HellToupee]

The Thing awaits under the Antarctic ice...

Scientists detect mysterious radio waves coming from beneath Antarctica’s ice

Researchers found radio waves transmitting from under the ice in Antarctica.

nypost.com

I wonder if this ties with Operation Highjump