Possible sign of life in deep space faces new doubts
https://phys.org/news/2025-05-life-deep-space.html
Possible sign of life in deep space faces new doubts
https://phys.org/news/2025-05-life-deep-space.html
6 Comments
It turns out the same faint signal that was hailed as a sign of alien life could just as easily be from ethane, a common gas we see in our own solar system, because many molecules share the same “fingerprint” in Webb’s data. And when you look at all the telescope observations together—Webb plus earlier Hubble data—the case for a biosignature on K2-18b practically disappears under the noise.
They published research last year for the same planet with only 1 sigma and another team published research in January showing they couldn’t reproduce the results with the data the original team used.
Now the original team has new data and is 2 sigma and now *another* team has shown again that their results can’t be replicated.
I’m starting to think team pushing the life thing are full of shit and know it.
The study was under immediate scrutiny because it was based on only one type of observation.
Check out this video from Dr. Becky (a PhD astrophysicist and excellent astronomy communicator). She clearly explains what signs of life are, etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzCDgvG14ok
Similar to the supposed evidence for life in the clouds of Venus. Just give it enough time and it gets shot down. Seems like such potentially huge announcements should never get hyped up until it’s been torn apart and put back together again by many, many others.
Oh look, the thing we all knew would happen has happened.