Scientists Find Strongest Evidence Yet of Potential Life on Faraway Planet

The abundant presence of the two gases suggests planet K2-18b may be teeming with microbial life, the researchers said.

An illustration shows a hycean world—an exoplanet with a liquid water ocean beneath a hydrogen-rich atmosphere—orbiting a red dwarf star, in an illustration obtained on April 16, 2025. A. Smith, N. Madhusudhan/University of Cambridge/Handout via Reuters

Scientists may have found what they call the strongest signs yet of possible life on a remote planet 2.6 times the size of Earth.

Using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), scientists at the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy have detected two gases in the planet’s atmosphere that, on Earth, are produced only by living organisms, primarily microbial life such as marine phytoplankton, a type of microscopic algae.