Potential indicators of life on other planets can be created in a lab

One way to understand the potential for life on far-off planets—those in other solar systems that orbit different stars—is to study a planet's atmosphere. Telescopic images often capture traces of gases that may indicate life and habitable planets. But findings from a new study led by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder challenge this idea: Scientists have created one type of gas often seen as an indicator of life in a chemistry lab with no organisms present.