Scientists believe that there could be nitrous oxide, better known as whippets or laughing gas, somewhere out there.
The idea that space could be full of the same stuff that college students huff for a quick high isn't just fun to think about, but could also be a new indicator for whether or not.
Eddie Schwieterman said in a press release that fewer researchers have considered nitrous oxide.
Schwieterman and his team calculated the amount of nitrous oxide produced by living organisms and entered that data into a planetary model. They found out that exoplanets with rich atmospheres could be detected by technology.
While there are some non-biological situations that produce nitrous oxide, such as the small amount released by lightning strikes, the U CR team accounted for that possibility in its modeling, and noted that lightning also releases nitrogen dioxide, which could also be detected in small levels.
According to the press release, others who've considered nitrous oxide a biosignature have pointed out that the compound doesn't exist in large quantities in Earth's atmosphere. There is an answer for that as well.
The conclusion doesn't account for periods in Earth's history where ocean conditions would have allowed for much greater biological release of nitrous oxide. It is possible that the conditions in those periods mirror where an exoplanet is right now.
With the greatest space data-collecting capabilities to date, the UCR team hopes their fellow scientists will begin taking the nitrous oxide-as-biosignature hypothesis seriously.
The Swiss government scientist says we may be on the edge of discovering alien life.
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