Researchers are exploring whether these ubiquitous fluorinated molecules might worsen infections or hamper vaccine effectiveness.
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Edited by Adam S. Burrows, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, and accepted by the Editorial Board June 26, 2014 (received for review December 16, 2013)
Abstract
The discovery and characterization of exoplanets have the potential to offer the world one of the most impactful findings ever in the history of astronomy—the identification of life beyond Earth. Life can be inferred by the presence of atmospheric biosignature gases—gases produced by life that can accumulate to detectable levels in an exoplanet atmosphere. Detection will be made by remote sensing by sophisticated space telescopes. The conviction that biosignature gases will actually be detected in the future is moderated by lessons learned from the dozens of exoplanet atmospheres studied in last decade, namely the difficulty in robustly identifying molecules, the possible interference of clouds, and the permanent limitations from a spectrum of spatially unresolved and globally mixed gases without direct surface observations. The vision for the path to assess the presence of life beyond Earth is being established.
Footnotes
- ↵1Email: seager{at}mit.edu.
Author contributions: S.S. reviewed and analyzed existing material and wrote the paper.
The author declares no conflict of interest.
This article is a PNAS Direct Submission. A.S.B. is a guest editor invited by the Editorial Board.
Prospects for life detection on exoplanets
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- Astronomy
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