UK - Life on 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.
But the team and independent astronomers stress that more data is needed to confirm these results.
The lead researcher, Prof Nikku Madhusudhan, [said] at his lab at Cambridge University’s Institute of Astronomy that he hopes to obtain the clinching evidence soon.
K2-18b is two-and-a-half times the size of Earth and is 700 trillion miles, or 124 light years, away from us—a distance far beyond what any human could travel in a lifetime.
The Cambridge group has found that the atmosphere seems to contain the chemical signature of at least one of two molecules that are associated with life: dimethyl sulphide (DMS) and dimethyl disulphide (DMDS). On Earth, these gases are produced by marine phytoplankton and bacteria.
“On Earth it is produced by microorganisms in the ocean, but even with perfect data we can’t say for sure that this is of a biological origin on an alien world because loads of strange things happen in the Universe and we don’t know what other geological activity could be happening on this planet that might produce the molecules,” said Prof Catherine Heymans of Edinburgh University.
Other research groups have put forward alternative, lifeless, explanations for the data obtained from K2-18b. There is a strong scientific debate not only about whether DMS and DMDS are present but also the planet’s composition.
“Everything we know about planets orbiting other stars comes from the tiny amounts of light that glance off their atmospheres. So it is an incredibly tenuous signal that we are having to read, not only for signs of life, but everything else,” said Prof Oliver Shorttle of Cambridge University.
The research has been published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
-www.bbc.com, 17 April 2025
Arno's Commentary
The universal presence of God is expressed by David in Psalm 139 where he exclaims in verse 7-8: “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.”
The Bible concerns itself with planet earth and the life He has created for the planet: vegetation, animals, and mankind.
This study by scientists at Cambridge shows man’s eagerness to discover something that is not there. This reminds us of Genesis 11:4: “And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”
These dear scientists at Cambridge or anywhere else in the world, will continue to seek what doesn’t exist, because they refuse to acknowledge the God who created all things that do exist—nothing more, nothing less.
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
