Extraterrestrial life

Artist's impression of a cloudy, Earth-like exoplanet with colorful biota in the clouds. Credit: Adam B. Langeveld/Carl Sagan Institute. Adapted from NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech

Scientists have developed a "color key" to detect extraterrestrial life in planetary clouds

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A team from Cornell University and the Carl Sagan Institute has measured spectra of colorful microorganisms in Earth's clouds, creating a color guide that will help identify biopigments as biological signatures in the clouds of cloudy exoplanets.
The James Webb Space Telescope enables a detailed analysis of the atmospheres of extrasolar planets and the possibility that they have life. Credit: NASA GSFC/CIL/Adriana Manrique Gutierrez

Molecular illusion: Laboratory findings cast doubt on signs of extraterrestrial life

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New research challenges the assumption that specific molecules detected on other planets are a sign of life, showing that they can be synthesized under controlled laboratory conditions without any biological activity
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