Sniff out alien life with giant library of weird chemicals

The search for vital signs of life in the atmospheres of other planets has taken a new turn. EAPS Professor of Planetary Sciences Sara Seager and her team, William Bains of University of Cambridge, and Janusz Petkowski of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, have created a list of every chemical with a backbone of six or fewer atoms by linking together elements like carbon, phosphorus, nitrogen, oxygen, sulphur and hydrogen – the most abundant elements of life. These scientists are starting with basic chemistry to expand the realm of possible biosignatures that could help us detect ET.

Read this story at the New Scientist