GAS TO BE SOMETHING OUT THERE

Space boffins say vapours detected on alien planet mean it's 'teeming with life'

- BY CATHERINE ADDISON-SWAN

SCIENTISTS have shared their hopes of proving the existence of alien life in the near future after making a groundbreaking discovery on a distant planet.

Researchers looking at K2-18b, 124 light years away from Earth, have found signs of chemical gases on the exoplanet that are produced by simple organisms such as bacteria and marine phytoplankton here on our own planet.

The team from the University of Cambridge branded this discovery the "strongest evidence yet" that there could be life beyond the stars.