Are we alone in the Universe? If aliens exist, why aren’t they here yet? What do aliens look like? Are aliens among us? Could anybody we know actually be an alien despite looking like an Earthling? Would aliens be friends or foes?
Such questions have been asked by curious people since the dawn of civilization. The thrilling news is that we may actually be getting closer to some answers if we just consider the huge advancements in science and technology in recent years. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), for instance, which was launched in late 2021, is capable of looking deeper and clearer into space than any other telescope has ever done it before.
Scientists at the University of California Riverside might have an idea for how to search for alien life in the vastness of space while exploiting the powers of the JWST.
Is it time to rely on nitrous oxide?
The new wild idea when it comes to looking for little green men in space or anything similar implies scanning the Universe for traces of nitrous oxide, which is a drug that helps some people get a better mood. According to the scientists who propose the idea, the Universe is full of the chemical compound, so finding it won’t be too difficult.
Once astronomers detect the presence of nitrous oxide, that’s a hint that a planet is habitable. But a planet being habitable doesn’t automatically mean that it’s also populated, so there’s still a lot of work to do. What’s amazing is that even the James Webb Space Telescope should have the right tools to detect the presence of the chemical compound.
Despite 8.7 million species existing on Earth, nitrous oxide doesn’t exist in large quantities on our planet. Eddie Schwieterman, a UCR astrobiologist, explains, as Futurism quotes:
This conclusion doesn’t account for periods in Earth’s history where ocean conditions would have allowed for much greater biological release of [nitrous oxide],
Conditions in those periods might mirror where an exoplanet is today.
The new study was published in The Astrophysical Journal.
