SETI Live: Could JWST Find Life? Methane as a Biosignature

If life is abundant in the universe, atmospheric methane may be the first sign of life beyond Earth, detectable by astronomers. Although nonbiological processes can generate methane, a new study explains how methane could be a biosignature rather than a false alarm. This hypothesis is noteworthy because methane is one of the few potential signs of life, or “biosignatures,” that could be readily detectable with the JWST, which will begin observations later this year.

To discuss this study, published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, we invited Joshua Krissansen-Totton, a Sagan Fellow at UCSC and co-author of this work. SETI Institute senior astronomer Franck Marchis will sit down with Krissansen-Totton to examine various nonbiological sources of methane and guidelines for confirming a methane biosignature, so the discovery of life can be based on the atmosphere of exoplanets.

Article: https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2117933119?af=R
UCSC press release: https://news.ucsc.edu/2022/03/methane-biosignatures.html

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