New analysis casts doubt on 'biosignatures' found on planet K2-18B

New analysis casts doubt on 'biosignatures' found on planet K2-18b toggle caption Adriana M. Gutierrez (CI Lab) /NASA-GSFC Astronomers have been poring over last week's claim of the detection of life-associated gases in the atmosphere of a distant planet named K2-18b — "the strongest evidence yet that life may exist on a planet outside our solar system," as a University of Cambridge press release put it. But already, one independent check suggests the announcement was overhyped. Jake Taylor of the University of Oxford, who studies the atmospheres of far-away planets with the James Webb Space Telescope, did a quick reanalysis of the starlight filtering through K2-18b's atmosphere. He used a simple method to look for the tell-tale signals of gas molecules of any kind. Sponsor Message He was "agnostic" in his approach, and did not look specifically for the exciting sulfur-based gases that, on Earth, are primarily associated with life-forms such as marine microbes. "I wanted to not ... Read full article.