Very interesting discovery by the Webb Telescope. According to scientist, this looks like the best candidate for life on another planet, ever found. Almost all the signatures for life appear to be there.
I hope Philo Sofee addresses this on his youtube channel.
A team of astronomers have detected what they call the most promising signs to date of a possible biosignature, or signs of past or present life linked to biological activity, on an exoplanet named K2-18b....
The research team that authored the new paper say the observations have reached the three-sigma level of significance, or a 0.3% probability that the detections occurred by chance. For a scientific discovery, the observations must meet a five-sigma threshold, or below a 0.00006% that the observations occurred by chance.
While the findings don’t represent a clear detection of dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl disulfide, “it is a step in the right direction,” said Dr. David Clements, an astrophysicist at Imperial College London.
So, does this mean Mormonism might actually have a shot at being true?
Why would that have any bearing whatsoever on the probability of Mormonism being true or not true?
No precept or claim is more suspect or more likely to be false than one that can only be supported by invoking the claim of Divine authority for it--no matter who or what claims such authority.
That would be no more ridiculous than Trump's tariff plan already is! I doubt however, that Trump, even knows or cares about the discoveries concerning K2-18b or, for that matter, anything else having to do with science.
No precept or claim is more suspect or more likely to be false than one that can only be supported by invoking the claim of Divine authority for it--no matter who or what claims such authority.
That would be no more ridiculous than Trump's tariff plan already is! I doubt however, that Trump, even knows or cares about the discoveries concerning K2-18b or, for that matter, anything else having to do with science.
Trump does seem to be fairly knowledgeable about science:
"I'm on paid sabbatical from BYU in exchange for my promise to use this time to finish two books."
Very interesting discovery by the Webb Telescope. According to scientist, this looks like the best candidate for life on another planet, ever found. Almost all the signatures for life appear to be there.
I hope Philo Sofee addresses this on his youtube channel.
A team of astronomers have detected what they call the most promising signs to date of a possible biosignature, or signs of past or present life linked to biological activity, on an exoplanet named K2-18b....
The research team that authored the new paper say the observations have reached the three-sigma level of significance, or a 0.3% probability that the detections occurred by chance. For a scientific discovery, the observations must meet a five-sigma threshold, or below a 0.00006% that the observations occurred by chance.
While the findings don’t represent a clear detection of dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl disulfide, “it is a step in the right direction,” said Dr. David Clements, an astrophysicist at Imperial College London.
Given the facts that the planet has 8.6 times earth's mass and 2.6 times earth's size, its density is about 0.49 that of earth. Thus, it is quite probable that its outermost layer (not including its atmosphere, of course) consists entirely of a very deep, worldwide ocean of water. Also, by my calculations, its surface gravity would be about 1.27 times earth standard of one g. Escape velocity from its surface would be about 20.3 kilometers per second (about 45,500 mph), so it could be quite difficult for any sentient beings on it to ever leave the planet and become a spacefaring civilization.
Last edited by Gunnar on Sat Apr 19, 2025 1:35 am, edited 4 times in total.
No precept or claim is more suspect or more likely to be false than one that can only be supported by invoking the claim of Divine authority for it--no matter who or what claims such authority.
Trump does seem to be fairly knowledgeable about science:
Yeah, right!
No precept or claim is more suspect or more likely to be false than one that can only be supported by invoking the claim of Divine authority for it--no matter who or what claims such authority.
Last edited by Gunnar on Sat Apr 19, 2025 9:52 am, edited 2 times in total.
No precept or claim is more suspect or more likely to be false than one that can only be supported by invoking the claim of Divine authority for it--no matter who or what claims such authority.
Given the facts that the planet has 8.6 times earth's mass and 2.6 times earth's size, its average density is about 0.49 that of earth. Thus, it is quite probable that its outermost layer (not including its atmosphere, of course) consists entirely of a very deep, worldwide ocean of water. Also, by my calculations, its surface gravity would be about 1.27 times earth standard of one g. Escape velocity from its surface would be about 20.3 kilometers per second (about 45,500 mph), so it could be quite difficult for any sentient beings on it to ever leave the planet and become a spacefaring civilization.
Gunnar,
Very interesting. This topic is currently being talked about on a lot of outlets. The Webb Telescope is going to devote around 23 hours of observation time (which is huge for the Webb Telescope) of this planet in the next 30-40 days, which should shed more light on this planet.
What would intelligent life on an aquatic world even look like? Would the ocean planet impede developing tools and complex technology? Is it more complicated or easier for evolution to develop intelligent life on a water planet than on land?
Interesting to think about.
"I'm on paid sabbatical from BYU in exchange for my promise to use this time to finish two books."
That would be no more ridiculous than Trump's tariff plan already is! I doubt however, that Trump, even knows or cares about the discoveries concerning K2-18b or, for that matter, anything else having to do with science.
