JWST finds "Strongest evidence of life..."

[JeffKeryk]

This is a corollary post to my last JWST lecture post which speaks of distant planet atmospheres...

JWST finds promising hints of life on a distant planet.

"A Cambridge team studying the atmosphere of a planet called K2-18b has detected signs of molecules which on Earth are only produced by simple organisms.

This is the second, and more promising, time chemicals associated with life have been detected in the planet's atmosphere by Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

JWST is so powerful that it can analyse the chemical composition of the planet's atmosphere from the light that passes through from the small red Sun it orbits."

This Science blows my mind. We live in fascinating times!

 

[oilboy123]

My mind always thinks aliens........ That being said I figured it was an organism. Yes what is being done tech wise is amazing. Elon rocket booster landings...... I never thought that would happen in my lifetime. Saw it on Johnny Quest cartoon in the 60s/early 70s.

 

[Revving2Redline]

Im a believer or at least i dont cast it off as not possible. I still have a belief and faith too but I at least always try to keep a open mind to things i cant describe or explain.

 

[wlk]

Im a believer or at least i dont cast it off as not possible. I still have a belief and faith too but I at least always try to keep a open mind to things i cant describe or explain.

Same here

 

[Toy4x4]

Im a believer or at least i dont cast it off as not possible. I still have a belief and faith too but I at least always try to keep a open mind to things i cant describe or explain.

Any form of life out there is alien, so whether it be a microbe to some unimaginable organism, there has to be something other than us. The sheer scale of the universe that we know of is hard to fathom and the odds that we are alone are not good. Most of what we know of the universe was probably discovered in, I guessing, the last 60 years. What we we know 100 years from now? Always wonderous to find out something new!

 

[faltic]

Any form of life out there is alien, so whether it be a microbe to some unimaginable organism, there has to be something other than us. The sheer scale of the universe that we know of is hard to fathom and the odds that we are alone are not good. Most of what we know of the universe was probably discovered in, I guessing, the last 60 years. What we we know 100 years from now? Always wonderous to find out something new!

That there's something other than us was figured out and recorded thousands of years ago and it's not aliens. The persistent idea there has to other's is a wish for a division, at least, of responsibility. IMHO

 

[burbguy82]

I am of the sort, that does not really care so much about the "what" as opposed to the "why", in topics like these. Over the years there are been sensational headlines in countless publications touting "best evidence" of something. Sometimes the best evidence, is a lack thereof.

How about lets use the resources on that project, on fixing something on this planet.

 

[Danno]

Interesting? Somewhat.
Impact on anyone's life on earth? Zero.
Does it keep the gubmint money flowing? For sure.
Could that money be better spent elsewhere? Since it's gubmint, not capable of cost/benefit analysis, and acting on it.

 

[KrisZ]

So, they can analyze the atmosphere on a planet which is 124 light years away, to single molecules and yet we don’t know what’s in our own oceans, don’t know how the pyramids were built. Heck, we left few astronauts stranded on the space station for months. Sure

Perhaps NASA’s pool got contaminated and that’s what they’ve picked up?

 

[Cujet]

Any form of life out there is alien, so whether it be a microbe to some unimaginable organism, there has to be something other than us.

That may not be entirely true. If panspermia theory is correct, (and it is a strong contender) DNA is spread throughout the galaxy and seeds viable locations. The instructions contained within develop life using glucose metabolism, resulting in the configurations we recognize as normal.

What we see as evolution may in fact be a set of neg-entropy instructions (the concentration of energy through the food chain) that over time resulted in human beings. Us being the pinnacle of life in our solar system.

It could be quite similar elsewhere.

Fossilized bacteria-like structures found in meteorites

 

[javacontour]

This is a corollary post to my last JWST lecture post which speaks of distant planet atmospheres...

JWST finds promising hints of life on a distant planet.

"A Cambridge team studying the atmosphere of a planet called K2-18b has detected signs of molecules which on Earth are only produced by simple organisms.

This is the second, and more promising, time chemicals associated with life have been detected in the planet's atmosphere by Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

JWST is so powerful that it can analyse the chemical composition of the planet's atmosphere from the light that passes through from the small red Sun it orbits."

This Science blows my mind. We live in fascinating times!

One thing to consider is that these are views of what a place looks like in the past.

In this case, the world in question is 124 light years away, meaning, save the oldest and most crusty of BITOG members, what we are seeing is how it looked before anyone here was born

As one observes objects further away, we are also looking further back in time.

My contention has been that we might be the only intelligent life now, but that doesn't mean billions of years ago, other ecosystems and civilizations came to and then collapsed due to the natural progression of any system to increased entropy.

And of course, I realise it's largely theory and hard (impossible) to prove with our current technology and understanding.

 

[Urshurak776]

Wonder if that organism could grow into something that could build a decent oil filter?

 

[Kira]

organism could grow into something that could build a decent oil filter?

Wasn't there an organism designed to eat oil.....as in spills?

 

[Urshurak776]

Wasn't there an organism designed to eat oil.....as in spills?

I think that was designed by Harley Davidson.

 

[javacontour]

Wasn't there an organism designed to eat oil.....as in spills?

I do believe so.

I also remember hearing about an organism that is thriving in the Chernobyl wasteland.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a30784690/chernobyl-fungus/

 

[JeffKeryk]

One thing to consider is that these are views of what a place looks like in the past.

In this case, the world in question is 124 light years away, meaning, save the oldest and most crusty of BITOG members, what we are seeing is how it looked before anyone here was born

As one observes objects further away, we are also looking further back in time.

My contention has been that we might be the only intelligent life now, but that doesn't mean billions of years ago, other ecosystems and civilizations came to and then collapsed due to the natural progression of any system to increased entropy.

And of course, I realise it's largely theory and hard (impossible) to prove with our current technology and understanding.

Yep. Since the planet is 120 light years away, humans are not going there to 100% verify.

 

[IndyIan]

I am of the sort, that does not really care so much about the "what" as opposed to the "why", in topics like these. Over the years there are been sensational headlines in countless publications touting "best evidence" of something. Sometimes the best evidence, is a lack thereof.

How about lets use the resources on that project, on fixing something on this planet.

NASA budget is pretty small compared to total federal budget, or the military.
Just from a national security perspective, having smart people on the payroll doing smart things can come in handy sometimes, as you can't conjure them up out of nowhere in an emergency, and you don't want the US to fall too far behind globally in scientific capacity. History has shown that a nation's future can change real quick if "unfriendly" countries gets too far ahead in the knowledge and technology race.

There's no shortage of money or resources on earth,(especially in the US), it's the collection/distribution/allocation that is tricky to get right.

 

[alarmguy]

Im a believer or at least i dont cast it off as not possible. I still have a belief and faith too but I at least always try to keep a open mind to things i cant describe or explain.

Without question! Agree! There are 200 BILLION stars (suns) in our immediate cosmic neighborhood.
So many calculations of a sextillion stars everywhere. With planets all over you know there is life. The thousand dollar question is can they travel many times faster than the speed of light? I would think so. I look at us as a primitive planet. The speed of light to us is fast, to them it might be a slow as a moped.

Honestly I think they are here or stop by every once in while. Explain the (space) etchings in stone in the Middle East and the great pyramids. Too many unanswered questions.... anyway... something is out there for sure.
Im clueless on why we think we are so intelligent. I bet every animal on earth thinks that.

 

[Urshurak776]

Without question! Agree! There are 200 BILLION stars (suns) in our immediate cosmic neighborhood.
So many calculations of a sextillion stars everywhere. With planets all over you know there is life. The thousand dollar question is can they travel many times faster than the speed of light? I would think so. I look at us as a primitive planet. The speed of light to us is fast, to them it might be a slow as a moped.

Honestly I think they are here or stop by every once in while. Explain the (space) etchings in stone in the Middle East and the great pyramids. Too many unanswered questions.... anyway... something is out there for sure.
Im clueless on why we think we are so intelligent. I bet every animal on earth thinks that.

Agree. M&H says they're the Global Experts on oil filtration. So absolutely.

 

[buster]

So, they can analyze the atmosphere on a planet which is 124 light years away, to single molecules and yet we don’t know what’s in our own oceans, don’t know how the pyramids were built. Heck, we left few astronauts stranded on the space station for months. Sure

Perhaps NASA’s pool got contaminated and that’s what they’ve picked up?

The pyramids and Baalbeck still amaze me. Baalbeck even more so. Those stones are absolutely massive. It's truly mind boggling how some of the ancients constructed so many of the megalithic structures found around the world.

We've barely explored the ocean - 5%?

I'm not a Graham fanboy by any means, but he's decent.

This particular video was pretty good: