FFP EP. 8 — Strongest Evidence for Alien Life? (Mars, K2-18b & JWST)

NASA just dropped what they’re calling the strongest evidence yet for biosignatures on Mars, so we spun up an emergency pod. We break down what the rover actually found in Jezero Crater, why geochemical “life-adjacent” reactions matter, revisit April’s hyped K2-18b claim from Cambridge, and close with brand-new JWST hints of atmospheres on Earth-sized exoplanets. Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary.

Summary

• NASA’s Mars result — Perseverance, Jezero, Bright Angel Formation, and inorganic proxies for life (iron phosphates/sulfides) plus how instruments like PIXL actually read rocks.

• The April headline on K2-18b (“strongest evidence yet”) and what atmospheric retrieval really does and doesn’t prove.

• Fresh JWST papers hinting at atmospheres on TRAPPIST-1 worlds — why that’s huge and how transit spectroscopy underpins it.

Show Notes

• NASA — Mars Biosignature Claim

• Cambridge — K2-18b Atmosphere Study

• Astrophysical Journal Letters — JWST TRAPPIST-1

• Atmosphere Study (Paper 1)

• Astrophysical Journal Letters — JWST TRAPPIST-1 Atmosphere Study (Paper 2)