Ethan

This artist's impression shows what the distant planet K2-18b, its host star, and another planet in this system might look like. A new analysis from the University of Chicago has cast doubt on a previous finding that concluded the data showed evidence of life on the planet. Credit: European Space Agency/Hubble Space Telescope, M. Kornmesser

Is this alien life – or just a ghost? Scientists reevaluate Webb telescope discovery

Possible signs of life on a distant planet? Not so fast. New research suggests the signal may be ordinary molecules, not alien biology.
Artist's impression of a protoplanetary disk. Credit: ESA

The Webb Space Telescope finds an abundance of carbon molecules around a young star

"It's amazing that we can detect and quantify the amount of molecules we know very well on Earth, like benzene, which is actually more than 600 light-years away," said one of the authors of the paper that appeared.