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A new study suggests a biosignature that the James Webb Space Telescope could search for:
The new study looks at the history of life on Earth, the one inhabited planet we know, to find times where the planet's atmosphere contained a mixture of gases that are out of equilibrium and could exist only in the presence of living organisms — anything from pond scum to giant redwoods. In fact, life's ability to make large amounts of oxygen has only occurred in the past one-eighth of Earth's history.
By taking a longer view, the researchers identified a new combination of gases that would provide evidence of life: methane plus carbon dioxide, minus carbon monoxide.
"We need to look for fairly abundant methane and carbon dioxide on a world that has liquid water at its surface, and find an absence of carbon monoxide," said co-author David Catling, a UW professor of Earth and space sciences. "Our study shows that this combination would be a compelling sign of life. What's exciting is that our suggestion is doable, and may lead to the historic discovery of an extraterrestrial biosphere in the not-too-distant future."
Also at Popular Mechanics.
Disequilibrium biosignatures over Earth history and implications for detecting exoplanet life (open, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aao5747) (DX)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 26 2018, @07:43PM (1 child)
You are telling us that your issue with evolution is that you just can't imagine a rock lasting millions of years?
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday January 29 2018, @04:43PM
My issues with evolution are the conclusions that they jump to from what they say are an exact science. When the fact that they are giving such huge ranges of time implies that they have no idea what they are talking about. Yes, rock lasts a long time, but just looking at our own "recent history". We barely have bits of recognizable architecture, and Stone artifacts from recent history. Why would there be such a wealth of evidence of the Dinosaurs, if the dinosaurs lived Millions of years ago? Why wouldn't in that vast time period, something have happened to the evidence. Either through erosion, or earthquakes, or volcanoes, or any of the other supposed catastrophic things that may have happened in the mean time. Why are there fossils on the tops of Mountains that haven't been eroded over the vast time periods? Here's a thought, perhaps, the dinosaurs, and other things lived much, much closer in recent past. The reason why there's such a wealth of evidence of the Dinosaurs and fossils on the tops of the mountains and just lying on the surface of plains is that they lived not that long ago. The elements haven't had Millions of years to erode the evidence that they ever existed. "Q: In what state can you find a lot of dinosaur bones?
A: Dinosaurs are found in 35 states and on every continent, wherever rocks from dinosaur time on ancient land are now on the surface. The best dinosaur-searching places are deserts and badlands out West. (Don Lessem)" https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/locations-dinosaur-digs/ [scholastic.com]
There's also the issue of Dinosaur Tracks. Why / How could have a track, survived for Millions of Years in a stream, or even just out on the surface? Shouldn't just air and sand, etc blowing over it have eroded it, or especially in the case of the Dinosaur Tracks in a stream with water eroding them. Erosion is a powerful force!
"Q: Have you found any dinosaur bones in Austin, Texas? About how far did you dig to find the dinosaur bones?
A: So far no one has found any dinosaurs here in Austin. But we have found some dinosaur tracks which are in the middle of one of the city's parks. They are from an ostrich-sized carnivorous dinosaur. Most of the rocks around here were deposited in the ocean, so we mostly find marine reptiles like mosasaurs and plesiosaurs inside the city. Strictly speaking, these are not dinosaurs but they are still very exciting to find. We found all of them by looking for bones lying on the surface of the ground. Only after we found some pieces did we know where to dig. The plesiosaur skeleton took about six weeks to dig up. The hole it came out of was not very deep but it took a long time because the rock it was in was very hard. (Tim Rowe)"
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"