Exoplanet K2-18b: Home to alien life or noisy data?

Recently, a group of scientists claimed they found possible signs of life on a planet called K2-18b. The news made headlines. Researchers said they'd detected sulphur-based gases that, on Earth, are strongly associated with life.

But the research caused an uproar in astronomy circles because other scientists don't think the data is strong enough to celebrate an alien find just yet. In fact, they have some real issues with how this whole thing went down, and a new analysis casts further doubt on the findings.

NPR science correspondent Nell Greenfieldboyce is here to wade into the controversy — and tell us what all this means for the future of searching for life beyond our solar system.

Want to hear more about new science research? Let us know by emailing shortwave@npr.org.

Listen to Short Wave on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.

Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.

This episode was produced by Berly McCoy, edited by Rebecca Ramirez and fact checked by Tyler Jones and Nell Greenfieldboyce. The audio engineer was Maggie Luthar.