Scientists are rethinking how to detect alien life by focusing on planets vastly different from Earth. Instead of searching for familiar biosignatures like oxygen, they’re investigating methyl halides

Scientists discovered that methyl halides, a gas produced by microbes, could be a biosignature for life on distant planets.

Scientists have identified a promising new way to detect life on faraway planets, hinging on worlds that look nothing like Earth and gases rarely considered in the search for extraterrestrials.

Scientists have discovered that alien existence could be hiding in gases on distant planets. New research suggests extraterrestrial beings might exist in gases called methyl halides on faraway worlds.