Scientists are rethinking how to detect alien life by focusing on planets vastly different from Earth. Instead of searching for familiar biosignatures like oxygen, they’re investigating methyl halides

Scientists have identified a promising new way to detect life on faraway planets, hinging on worlds that look nothing like Earth and gases rarely considered in the search for extraterrestrials.

Alien life could be hiding in gases, researchers have said. We could find extraterrestrial beings in gas on faraway planets that are very unlike our own, according to their new study.

Scientists discovered that methyl halides, a gas produced by microbes, could be a biosignature for life on distant planets.

Scientists have discovered that alien existence could be hiding in gases on distant planets. New research suggests extraterrestrial beings might exist in gases called methyl halides on faraway worlds.