From: invalid@invalid.invalid   
      
   https://archive.is/ApwLm   
      
   New observations fail to confirm signs of life   
   in the atmosphere of the distant planet K2-18b.   
   They also raise questions about what it will   
   take to detect biology light-years away.   
      
   In April, a team of scientists based at the   
   University of Cambridge claimed that a planet   
   orbiting a distant star bore a possible   
   signature of life. The announcement kicked up   
   a fierce debate among astronomers, with many   
   skeptics arguing that the evidence was too   
   ambiguous.   
      
   Now a NASA-led team has made a new set of   
   observations of the planet known as K2-18b,   
   which lies 124 light-years from Earth. They   
   have provided a clearer picture of the planet   
   — confirming the presence of water, perhaps   
   even as a liquid ocean.   
      
   But the new observations have failed to confirm   
   evidence for life. In the original study, the   
   Cambridge team claimed that K2-18b appeared to   
   have a gas in its atmosphere that on Earth is   
   produced only by living things. The NASA study   
   did not find strong evidence for that gas.   
      
   What’s more, the NASA team argues that even if   
   the gas was on K2-18b, it might have formed   
   through mere chemistry. What once seemed like   
   a promising clue of life — a biosignature —   
   might be a mirage.   
      
   “A key takeaway is that biosignatures are going   
   to be hard, no matter what kind of planet we   
   are talking about,” said Jacob Bean, an   
   astronomer at Cornell University, who was not   
   involved in the study.   
   ...   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)