Scientists Say, Laughing Gas May Be Key , to Finding Life on Distant Planets.<br />Phys.org reports that scientists have suggested that the search for life on planets around other stars has overlooked a key chemical: laughing gas.<br />Typically, scientists are searching for chemical compounds in a planet's atmosphere that are found in abundance in Earth's atmosphere today.<br />There's been a lot of thought <br />put into oxygen and methane <br />as biosignatures. Fewer researchers <br />have seriously considered <br />nitrous oxide, but we think <br />that may be a mistake, Eddie Schwieterman, astrobiologist in UCR's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, via Phys.org.<br />The team first determined how much <br />nitrous oxide could be produced by <br />living things on a planet similar to Earth.<br />Then, the team used simulations to determine amounts of N₂O that an observatory like the <br />James Webb Space Telescope could detect. .<br />Then, the team used simulations to determine amounts of N₂O that an observatory like the <br />James Webb Space Telescope could detect. .<br />In a star system like TRAPPIST-1, <br />the nearest and best system to observe <br />the atmospheres of rocky planets, you could<br /> potentially detect nitrous oxide at levels <br />comparable to CO2 or methane, Eddie Schwieterman, astrobiologist in UCR's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, via Phys.org.<br />The team believes that the current search for life fails <br />to account for periods in Earth's history when <br />conditions would have allowed for higher levels of N₂O.<br />We wanted to put this idea forward <br />to show it's not out of the question <br />we'd find this biosignature gas, <br />if we look for it, Eddie Schwieterman, astrobiologist in UCR's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, via Phys.org.<br />Details of the team's work were <br />published in 'The Astrophysical Journal.'
