So, we've discovered Alien life then

Akrasia

Yay

Molecules that can only be produced by underwater life have been discovered on a planet 124 light years away

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/l0057248

riffmongous

"Molecules that can only be produced by underwater life "

Caveat - that we know of, from our experience here on Earth

poop emoji

Alright, who has “Aliens” on their bingo card for 2025?

TheIrishGrover

There have been false positives before but I do believe that we will discover conclusive, irrefutable proof of life beyond earth in my lifetime. I believe that it will be similar to this: chemical compositions (Maybe artificial) within atmospheres, or live or dead microbes on rock samples from Mars. And that will be good enough for me. That would prove, in my mind, that life is abundant throughout the universe. Some simply microbes, some, sentient species far in advance of us.

Given our current understandings of physics, I don't believe that a great big spaceship will land on the Whitehouse lawn. Probably because they will fear being deported. lol. But who knows, maybe 10 years from now, someone will come up with evidence that our theories of relativity are wrong and it's SIMPLE to travel at warp….

silliussoddius

I doubt the theory of relativity is wrong, room for improvement but not necessarily wrong.

emo72

Ever since David Fravors tic tac encounter I assumed we all knew this?

thomil

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058406530/so-weve-discovered-alien-life-then

3 sigma significance, not exactly bullet proof evidence, especially since we don't even know the nature of K2-18b. It's certainly worth investigating this more, but for now, I'm not convinced yet.

I will say though, between this, and the kerfuffle about phosphine in the upper parts of Venus' atmosphere and the intermittent detections of methane on Mars, we're probably closer to finding an actual bio-signature than ever before. But for now, K2-18b isn't quite there yet.

Emblematic

Youtube of the BBC report:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjWwTw-zEIM&ab_channel=BBCNews

Emblematic

It looks like there will never be a single discovery that confirms life. If it happens, it will be the gradual accumulation of evidence over many years and eventually the consensus among qualified scientists will form that, yes, there probably is extraterrestrial life.

silliussoddius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123366201#Comment_123366201

No.

igCorcaigh

This is big news. Thanks for posting OP!

Loafing Oaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123366332#Comment_123366332

So

is about as far as we cvan go on the back of this…

Oscar_Madison

I for one welcome our new overlords - can’t be any worse than Trump .

silliussoddius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123366640#Comment_123366640

I hear they do a great tarriff.

Akrasia

If there's aliens, that means there's a chance we're on one of those worlds used as hunting grounds for predators, which means there's a chance we may be able to get off this godforsaken hell hole if we play our cards right

Also

Extra terrestrial life basically torpedos most of the arguments for the existence of god, so take that creationists

igCorcaigh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123367133#Comment_123367133

Are you not jumping ahead there a bit?

There are huge differences (and bottlenecks) between microbial life, multicellular life and intelligent, technologically mature life such as humans.

But we have found very encouraging signs of some form of life not in our solar system, but in another star system, and the implications of that could very well be profound.

igCorcaigh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123366012#Comment_123366012

That's the big question.

But it's not just from our experience, it's also from our theoretical understanding.

AFAIK, there isn't a well-established theory of a non-biological pathway for producing DMS/DMDS, but I expect there'll be renewed focus on that subject now.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123367133#Comment_123367133

It sounds like you plan on seducing a Predator 🤣

The god crowd will just say the aliens were sent to test us or made by the devil. They are pretty well practiced at fooling themselves.

beachhead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123366686#Comment_123366686

If the tarriff was an apple and black tart or a cheap quality black forest gateau I'd be happy.Maybe they will feed them to us in their zoo.Ain't aliens found us already though with all the stories from Sth America,Spain,China,Australia.No need to mention Nth America as probably thumpits ancestors.They been here already,exterminated themselves as we will.No chance of anyone alive today meeting an interstellar being whether on earth or another planet

cml387

When I were a lad I loved astronomy books, and loved Patrick Moore.

He said that (reasonably enough) we'd never be able to see the planets around distant stars because they didn't reflect any light and were outshone by the sun they orbit.

Now they can say what the atmosphere consist of on the planets. Remakable.

Calahonda52

https://www.nasa.gov/universe/exoplanets/webb-discovers-methane-carbon-dioxide-in-atmosphere-of-k2-18-b/

The tech in James Webb Space Telescope is astounding, a long way from the Brownie

beachhead

It's a long way from Birr or SETI

SuperBowserWorld

Stolen from another thread

joseywhales

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123366045#Comment_123366045

Actually it's the only thing that explains Trump to me. The only logical reason such a buffoon exists to create maximal chaos, so that we might actually welcome an external alien control. All the UFOs. The emergence of ai and the promotion of it to be able to deliver miraculous advancement that seems counter intuitive from mere reinforcement learning or whatever. Sign me up for that super conspiracy.

poop emoji

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123368284#Comment_123368284

Simpsons did it

riffmongous

Either way, this planet is doomed, doooommmeedd!

beachhead

I was once taken up in a spaceship and examined.Anyone want to know about my experience.

Sleepy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123367133#Comment_123367133

Common **** sense already torpedos most of the arguments for the existence of god(s) and yet we still have billions on this planet who not only believe the bullshit but will actively mutilate their children, treat women as second class citizens, legislate against reproductive healthcare, same sex marriage etc. because of it.

Much and all as I'd like to see the back of it, humanity will never be free of superstitious nonsnese.

beachhead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123367133#Comment_123367133

Don't forget that some landscapers propose that we(the planet Earth)are in a giant black hole within a universe and that we are an alien experiment.

corner of hells

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123368931#Comment_123368931

Your arse was re bored ?

poop emoji

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123369043#Comment_123369043

a … beachhead was established