SPACE/COSMOS
Scientists detect strong evidence of life on an alien planet
Scientists have detected potential evidence of life on K2-18b, a distant exoplanet. A Cambridge team using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope found molecules in its atmosphere that, on Earth, are produced by living organisms. This marks the second and more promising detection of such chemicals.
Issued on: 18/04/2025
FRANCE 24
Scientists have detected potential evidence of life on K2-18b, a distant exoplanet. A Cambridge team using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope found molecules in its atmosphere that, on Earth, are produced by living organisms. This marks the second and more promising detection of such chemicals.
Issued on: 18/04/2025
FRANCE 24
The exoplanet K2-18b, which some astronomers think is the best known chance of life beyond our solar system. © M. Kornmesser, AFP
Astronomers have found possible chemical signs of life on a distant planet outside our solar system, though they caution more work is needed to confirm their findings.
The research, led by scientists at the University of Cambridge, detected evidence of compounds in the exoplanet's atmosphere that on Earth are only produced by living organisms and contended it's the strongest potential signal yet of life.
Independent scientists described the findings as interesting, but not nearly enough to show the existence of life on another planet.
“It is the strongest sign to date of any possibility of biological activity outside the solar system," Cambridge astrophysicist Nikku Madhusudhan said during a livestream on Thursday.
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Astronomers have found possible chemical signs of life on a distant planet outside our solar system, though they caution more work is needed to confirm their findings.
The research, led by scientists at the University of Cambridge, detected evidence of compounds in the exoplanet's atmosphere that on Earth are only produced by living organisms and contended it's the strongest potential signal yet of life.
Independent scientists described the findings as interesting, but not nearly enough to show the existence of life on another planet.
“It is the strongest sign to date of any possibility of biological activity outside the solar system," Cambridge astrophysicist Nikku Madhusudhan said during a livestream on Thursday.
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01:50© FRANCE 24
By analysing data from the James Webb Space Telescope, the researchers found evidence of dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl disulfide in the atmosphere of the planet known as K2-18b. The planet is 124 light-years away; one light-year is equivalent to nearly 6 trillion miles.
On Earth, those two compounds are produced primarily by microbial life, such as marine phytoplankton.
The planet is more than double Earth’s size and more than 8 times more massive. It's in the so-called habitable zone of its star. The study appeared in the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Madhusudhan stressed that further research is needed to rule out any errors or the possibility of other processes, besides living organisms, that could produce the compounds.
David Clements, an astrophysicist at Imperial College London, said atmospheres on other planets are complex and difficult to understand, especially with the limited information available from a planet so far away.
“This is really interesting stuff and, while it does not yet represent a clear detection of dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl disulfide, it is a step in the right direction,” he said in comments released by the Science Media Center in London.
More than 5,500 planets orbiting other stars have been confirmed so far. Thousands more are in the running out of the billions out there in our Milky Way galaxy alone.
Launched in 2021, Webb is the biggest and most powerful observatory ever sent into space.
By analysing data from the James Webb Space Telescope, the researchers found evidence of dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl disulfide in the atmosphere of the planet known as K2-18b. The planet is 124 light-years away; one light-year is equivalent to nearly 6 trillion miles.
On Earth, those two compounds are produced primarily by microbial life, such as marine phytoplankton.
The planet is more than double Earth’s size and more than 8 times more massive. It's in the so-called habitable zone of its star. The study appeared in the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Madhusudhan stressed that further research is needed to rule out any errors or the possibility of other processes, besides living organisms, that could produce the compounds.
David Clements, an astrophysicist at Imperial College London, said atmospheres on other planets are complex and difficult to understand, especially with the limited information available from a planet so far away.
“This is really interesting stuff and, while it does not yet represent a clear detection of dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl disulfide, it is a step in the right direction,” he said in comments released by the Science Media Center in London.
More than 5,500 planets orbiting other stars have been confirmed so far. Thousands more are in the running out of the billions out there in our Milky Way galaxy alone.
Launched in 2021, Webb is the biggest and most powerful observatory ever sent into space.
By AFP
April 17, 2025
"Where is everybody?": This question, about the lack of aliens in the vast universe, is called Fermi's paradox - Copyright NASA/AFP/File HO
Daniel Lawler
Astronomers raised hopes that humanity might not be alone in the universe by announcing on Thursday they have detected the most promising hints yet of life on a distant planet.
But given the age and vastness of the universe, a different question has long puzzled some scientists: why haven’t we already come in contact with aliens?
“Where is everybody?” Enrico Fermi asked fellow famous physicists including Edward Teller over lunch in 1950.
This quandary was named Fermi’s Paradox.
“It’s a numbers game,” Jason Wright, the director of the extraterrestrial intelligence centre at Pennsylvania State University, told AFP.
The Milky Way is around 10 billion years old and is home to more than 100 billion stars.
This suggests there is likely a mind-boggling number of potentially habitable planets in our home galaxy alone.
That could include K2-18b, where astronomers said Thursday they have detected signs of a chemical that is only produced by microbial life on Earth.
Wright said Fermi’s Paradox essentially suggests that — given enough time — “every alien species will eventually have their own Elon Musk who will go out and settle the next star over”.
That we have not yet heard from aliens is known as “the mystery of the great silence”.
– So what are the theories? –
At least 75 speculative solutions to Fermi’s Paradox have been proposed so far, according to a 2015 book, though Wright guessed more have been added since.
First, it is possible that humanity has not yet detected alien life because there isn’t any — we are truly alone.
Many scientists feel this is unlikely.
Some 87 percent of over 1,000 scientists in relevant fields surveyed in Nature Astronomy earlier this year agreed there is at least a basic form of extraterrestrial life.
More than 67 percent agreed that intelligent aliens are out there.
Of course, it is also possible that aliens are already here and we have not noticed — or that it has been covered up.
Or interstellar space could just be too difficult to traverse, the distances too vast, the resources needed too great.
– What if there is a ‘great filter’? –
Another theory is that there is some kind of “great filter” that prevents life — or intelligent life — from occurring in the first place.
Or perhaps there is some kind of barrier that stops civilisations from advancing beyond a certain point.
For example, once civilisations develop the technology to travel through space, they might tend to destroy themselves with something like nuclear weapons.
Or maybe they burn through their planet’s natural resources, or make their climate unliveable.
Some of these theories seem to be influenced by fears for human civilisation — the one example we have of intelligent life.
But Wright felt this was unlikely because any such barrier would have to be the same across the whole universe.
It would also have to make the species go totally extinct every time, otherwise they would eventually bounce back and try again at space travel.
– Are we in a zoo or planetarium? –
There are even more galaxy-brained ideas.
Under the “zoo” hypothesis, technologically advanced aliens would be leaving humans alone to observe us from afar, like animals in a zoo.
The “planetarium” hypothesis posits that aliens could be creating an illusion that makes space seem empty to us, keeping us in the dark.
– …or a ‘dark forest’? –
This theory got its name from the second book in Chinese author Cixin Liu’s science-fiction series “The Three-Body Problem”.
It posits that the universe is a “dark forest” in which no one wants to reveal their presence lest they be destroyed by others.
There are other hypotheses that aliens prefer to “transcend” to another plane of existence — which some have compared to virtual reality — so don’t bother with interstellar travel.
– Why would they all be the same? –
But there is a big problem with many of these “so-called solutions,” Wright said.
They tend to assume that all the hypothetical kinds of aliens across the universe would all behave in the same way — forever.
This has been dubbed the “monocultural fallacy”.
Wright, who has used SETI telescopes to search for radio signals or lasers from the stars, also pushed back against the idea that humanity would necessarily have already picked up on any alien signal.
Aliens could be sending out messages using all sorts of unknown technology, so maybe the galaxy is not as silent as we think, he said.
“Those of us looking for life in the universe generally don’t think of the Fermi paradox or the great silence as such a big problem.”
Putin praises Musk, compares him to Soviet space hero
By AFP
April 16, 2025
Elon Musk (R) has become an enthusiastic supporter of Donald Trump (L) - Copyright AFP/File Jim WATSON
Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Elon Musk on Wednesday, telling university students he was a pioneer comparable to legendary Soviet rocket engineer Sergei Korolev.
The comments came as Russia and the United States forged closer ties under President Donald Trump’s administration, of which billionaire SpaceX founder Musk is a key figure.
“You know, there’s a man — he lives in the States — Musk, who, you could say, raves about Mars,” Putin told students on a visit to Bauman University, a Moscow college that specialises in science and engineering.
“These are the kind of people who don’t often appear in the human population, charged-up with a certain idea.”
“If it seems incredible even today, such ideas often come to fruition after a while. Just like the ideas of Korolev, our pioneers, came about in due time,” Putin added.
Korolev is considered the father of the Soviet space programme, developing the first satellite Sputnik as well as Vostok 1, which carried first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into orbit in 1961.
Musk, the world’s richest man and Trump’s most powerful advisor, is the head of SpaceX — a US company that launches rockets for NASA and owns the Starlink satellite internet network.
Musk has been a frequent critic of Ukraine, which is currently battling a three-year Russian offensive.
The billionaire accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last month of wanting a “forever war”, and in February said Kyiv had gone “too far” in the conflict.
By AFP
April 16, 2025
Elon Musk (R) has become an enthusiastic supporter of Donald Trump (L) - Copyright AFP/File Jim WATSON
Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Elon Musk on Wednesday, telling university students he was a pioneer comparable to legendary Soviet rocket engineer Sergei Korolev.
The comments came as Russia and the United States forged closer ties under President Donald Trump’s administration, of which billionaire SpaceX founder Musk is a key figure.
“You know, there’s a man — he lives in the States — Musk, who, you could say, raves about Mars,” Putin told students on a visit to Bauman University, a Moscow college that specialises in science and engineering.
“These are the kind of people who don’t often appear in the human population, charged-up with a certain idea.”
“If it seems incredible even today, such ideas often come to fruition after a while. Just like the ideas of Korolev, our pioneers, came about in due time,” Putin added.
Korolev is considered the father of the Soviet space programme, developing the first satellite Sputnik as well as Vostok 1, which carried first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into orbit in 1961.
Musk, the world’s richest man and Trump’s most powerful advisor, is the head of SpaceX — a US company that launches rockets for NASA and owns the Starlink satellite internet network.
Musk has been a frequent critic of Ukraine, which is currently battling a three-year Russian offensive.
The billionaire accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last month of wanting a “forever war”, and in February said Kyiv had gone “too far” in the conflict.
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