Oxygen-Free Biosignatures: Desert Microbes Spotlight Gas Signals for Detecting Life on Exoplanets
To the point
Researchers, including Valeska Molina, are expanding life-detection methods to oxygen-independent microbes that emit detectable carbon-based gases, suggesting alien atmospheres could resemble ancient, oxygen-poor Earth and that scientists must distinguish such biosignatures from nonbiological sources while preparing to observe rocky exoplanets around M dwarfs with future telescopes.
