A chemical only produced by life on earth. But can it be produced by abiotic conditions on other planets? I’m not sure that has been ruled out at this point.
this post was submitted on 15 Sep 2023
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Yeah, this headline is bullshit. It's indication of possible life, but it isn't what the headline makes it sound. There's always other possible methods, even if we aren't aware of them yet. It's interesting, but doesn't confirm anything yet.
Only a 1 sigma confirmation at the moment so needs to be thoroughly reinvestigated
What does 1 sigma mean?
It’s a number that statistically represents how strong the result is in the data basically. As far as I understand it, with astronomy the typical sigma value expected is 3
By saying 1 sigma, they are basically saying tgat are 68% confident in the results. As you increase the sigma, your confidence in the results increases. Here is a site that goes into more in depth explanation: https://news.mit.edu/2012/explained-sigma-0209#
it picked up hints of a substance only made by living things — at least, that is, on Earth.
What other process could theoretically produce it?
Given the vast differences in atmospheres (or the lack thereof) and their conditions, I wouldn't be surprised if those were the culprits
if you have methanol, hydrogen sulfide and enough heat along with a specific rock, it will get formed. or probably methane, hydrogen sulfide and UV
there are many ways, and what i'm saying it's likely a massive clickbait
t. organic chemist, currently working with sulfur compounds
I would also hesitate to automatically rule anything out. The Fermi paradox exists for a reason, and it makes logical sense that if life can appear in one place, it can (and will) do it again. In a universe as large as ours, it's basically inevitable that we will eventually discover some form of alien life, even if it's just single-celled organisms (assume we as a species survive long enough).
I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in because whenever anything like this comes up, you get a rush of two kinds of people: "omg aliens!" and "omg look at all the idiots who thinks it's aliens; everyone knows aliens aren't real". It frustrates me because the existence of alien life shouldn't be controversial. If anything, imo, the idea that alien life doesn't exist should be controversial (the Fermi paradox exists for a reason). Just because we haven't seen it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It's honestly scarier imo if it doesn't exist due to the implications of it.
someone who woulda probably been an astrophysicist if they'd been given a chance earlier in life
i said nothing about aliens, all i say is that claim "dimethyl sulfide = definite sign of life" makes it a powerful clickbait, because there are processes that can provide it abiogenically from something similar to earth's primordial soup
your assumption seems overly optimistic
Sadly they cannot be communicated with in a single human life time; assuming they are intelligent and possess the capability to respond.
It's a planet 8x the mass of the earth with a heavy hydrogen atmosphere and is considered very hot, the water is in a super critical state. I think if we found anything it would just be bacterial life.
My bet is on "previously unknown chemistry" creating the chemicals we found. It's never aliens :(
To me it’s not a matter of whether live exists anymore, but where it exists
I’d be pretty happy to put $100 right now on life being found on almost every planet and moon throughout the galaxy where liquid water exists.
Im seriously excited to get to Europa