I’ll Be Right Here

David Bowie suggested, “There’s a starman waiting in the sky. He’d like to come and meet us. But he thinks he’d blow our minds.” I’m guessing that the news cycle of 2025 has dampened the starman’s enthusiasm for a visit. (Seriously, is there any chance our minds would be nearly as blown as his?) It turns out we may find him before he visits us. “An ocean world that’s teeming with microbes — and who knows what other kinds of life — is currently the best explanation for some chemical signatures that the James Webb Space Telescope has spotted in the atmosphere of a distant planet.” NPR: Are there signs of life on alien planet K2-18b, or is it just a lot of hot air? “‘I think this is one of those situations where extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,’ says Laura Kreidberg, an astronomer at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany who was not part of the research team. ‘I’m not sure we’re at the extraordinary evidence level yet.'” (I don’t know about you, but I’ve heard enough to send Gayle King and Katy Perry to take a look.)