NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has just detected potential signs of life on exoplanet K2-18b. The planet is around 2.5 times the size of Earth and it’s located 700 trillion miles from Earth.
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00:00NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has just detected potential signs of life on exoplanet
00:08K218b. The planet is around 2.5 times the size of Earth, and it's located 700 trillion miles
00:15from our planet. Experts analyzed atmospheric data, detecting molecules associated with simple
00:20Earth organisms. On Earth, these molecules are typically produced by marine phytoplankton and
00:25bacteria. On K218b, however, that gas is thousands of times more concentrated than on our planet.
00:31But how sure are researchers? They say they are 99.7% confident in the discovery of extraterrestrial
00:38life, which is promising, but short of the 99.999999% needed to claim a scientific discovery.
00:45Professor Niku Medusadon outlines how just a few months ago they were only 68% confident in their
00:51data, adding, this could be the tipping point. We're suddenly the fundamental question of
00:55whether we're alone in the universe is one we're capable of answering. He goes on to say that if
01:00they can confirm life on that planet, it should basically confirm that life is very common in
01:04the galaxy, and finally prove once and for all that we're not alone.