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“Most promising signs yet” of alien life on a planet beyond our Solar System

(www.skyatnightmagazine.com)
417 points fuidani | 1 comments | 17 Apr 25 08:02 UTC | HN request time: 0.225s | source
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throwaway290 ◴[17 Apr 25 08:55 UTC] No.43714434[source]▶
TL;DR

- K2-18b

- detected dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl disulfide, false positive possibility is now very low

- "produced by marine-dwelling organisms on Earth", possibility they were produced by other processes (unrelated to life as we know it) not high but maybe unknown unknowns

- other factors like distance from the star are in favor of life & water

- previous studies detected methane and carbon dioxide

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sph ◴[17 Apr 25 09:00 UTC] No.43714474[source]▶
> false positive possibility is very low

No, it means we will soon discover how these compounds form naturally. Would love to be wrong, of course.

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1. nottorp ◴[17 Apr 25 09:31 UTC] No.43714622[source]▶
If plankton farts them, it's natural too, right?