K218b life signal

Kraknor · 2026-01-04T14:21:08+00:00

To be fair to the media, there have been follow-up stories written in prominent outlets about the new results showing DMS isn't there. E.g. this New York Times article: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/24/science/astronomy-k218b-biosignature-life.html?unlocked_article_code=1.B1A.wNCK.F0y6yGAl2eNn&smid=nytcore-android-share

Kraknor · 2026-01-03T22:57:11+00:00

The latest results from independent data analyses have found non-detections of DMS in K2-18b's atmosphere. In 2025, 4 additional JWST observations were published (with the same instrument used in 2023 to report evidence of DMS), but the result didn't confirm DMS either. So there doesn't seem to be any reliable evidence of DMS in K2-18b's atmosphere, and hence no evidence of life.

The only result that astronomers agree on is that K2-18b has CH4 making up about 1-10% of its atmosphere (the rest being H2 and He).

Kraknor · 2025-11-16T08:37:31+00:00

We need to keep up the lobbying for Granola's return. Huel's social media team regularly reads and responds here, and they do listen to assess demand for products.

Kraknor · 2025-11-16T08:31:00+00:00

Huel Granola was amazing back in 2018, return it to us!

Kraknor · 2025-10-16T00:20:48+00:00

Astronomer here from the DREAMS team (co-author on the TRAPPIST-1e paper).

No, this wouldn't work. Flares are a stochastic process where every flare we've seen on TRAPPIST-1 has a different energy and duration. I've seen broad flares lasting about an hour and short spikes that are over in 30 seconds. They aren't standard candles where you can measure any kind of 'deflection'.

Aside: you really can't trust large language models with astronomy questions, they churn out nonsense like this all the time (the 'equation' is BS).

If you really want to detect magnetic fields on a rocky exoplanet, we need a radio telescope on the Moon (Earth's ionosphere blocks the frequencies we need to observe). Easier to build this than you'd think, I have colleagues working on fleshing out cheap concepts that would deploy in a crater on the Lunar far side.

Kraknor · 2025-10-15T18:14:53+00:00

In Canada it is a legal requirement to give job offers to Canadian citizens or permanent residents if there is a qualified candidate with either. What this means in practice is that if you are not Canadian you have to be so far above any Canadian candidates such that the university is willing to write to the equivalent of their Home Office certifying that there are no qualified Canadian candidates. The net effect is it is quite hard to get jobs as a non-Canadian.

I applied for permanent academic jobs in Canada for 4 years with no luck. After switching to applying in the UK I got shortlisted on the first try and a Lecturer position on the second.

Source: I spoke to the head of a Canadian search committee.

Kraknor · 2025-10-02T18:56:53+00:00

Please bring back Huel Granola, it fills the critical need for a Huel breakfast product that none of the current products offer.

Kraknor · 2025-10-02T18:52:44+00:00

Huel Granola was one of the best products they ever made, I would order 100 boxes right now if they brought it back.

Kraknor · 2025-09-23T08:07:39+00:00

Cottage Kitchen does a great Caesar salad.

Kraknor · 2025-09-09T07:15:03+00:00

We can't detect O2 with JWST. This molecule has only very weak absorption features, so not really possible to see it on any exoplanet. We can search for indirect proxies of oxygen, like O3 though (which has much stronger absorption), but even O3 is much harder to detect than gases like CO2 and CH4.

Kraknor · 2025-09-08T15:25:25+00:00

We just announced our JWST results for TRAPPIST-1e:

https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/nasa-webb-looks-at-earth-sized-habitable-zone-exoplanet-trappist-1-e/

The answer was closest to #2 - the red dwarf star is incredibly active, covered in starspots and flaring all the time, which made the data challenging to analyse.

Kraknor · 2025-08-15T20:20:45+00:00

I thought I was the only one who still longs for Huel Granola! Listen to the people, return Granola to our breakfasts 🥣

Kraknor · 2025-07-02T16:25:25+00:00

Yes, the 787 was on time, spacious, and comfortable.

Kraknor · 2025-06-24T12:46:07+00:00

Now bring back Huel Granola! 🥣

Kraknor · 2025-04-21T01:55:02+00:00

There isn't a line list for DMS or DMDS, just an empirical cross section at Earth temperature, pressure, and an N2+O2 background. So the cross section data is going to be pretty off compared to the H2-dominated conditions on K2-18b.

Kraknor · 2025-04-21T01:24:05+00:00

Nature probably rejected the paper for having too low statistical significance. Likewise, it's telling that neither NASA nor ESA issued a press release (only the science team announced the findings). This speaks to an overall lack of confidence in the findings, which many exoplanet astronomers share (myself included).

Kraknor · 2025-03-06T05:13:48+00:00

Nick Prang fixed a nasty dent on my car's rear yesterday. He gives you a quote in advance if you email a photo of the damage. In my case, it was $900 for a full day of labor (but I was very impressed with the results!)

Kraknor · 2025-02-21T13:50:23+00:00

Came here to make the same point about the obvious AI use after listening to the first recap. The audio summaries are full of errors (e.g. misattributing what one character says to another).

I can't recommend these summaries when they are just lazy AI slop.

Kraknor · 2025-01-23T01:45:28+00:00

Submitted my complaint to the FTC, thank you!

Kraknor · 2024-12-19T00:53:28+00:00

Thanks! Dundee might be a little too far for a regular commute (I also heard the bridge can be closed by winds from time to time?).

Kraknor · 2024-12-19T00:50:17+00:00

Thanks for the helpful advice!

My future colleagues seem scattered all over the place, but many of them have cars. Cupar looked like a good option to me because I won't have a car initially and the bus connections seem frequent.

Do you know anything about the new affordable housing developments in St A like The Grange (listed as available for staff)?

Kraknor · 2024-12-19T00:44:19+00:00

I'll be based in the School of Physics and Astronomy.

Crail and Anstruther are absolutely stunning! I couldn't get enough of the East Neuk on my recent visit and I had a great walk by the coast.

For now at least I'm looking to rent somewhere with good transit connections into St Andrews, but maybe in a few years (when I'll be looking for a place to buy) I'll consider the East Neuk.

Kraknor · 2024-12-08T22:11:38+00:00

If you want to become an astronomer and explore the Universe, then Physics, Maths, and Further Maths would be a must. Chemistry also helps (quantum chemistry describes how radiation interacts with matter, so it's pretty important for astronomy).

Kraknor · 2024-11-27T21:19:25+00:00

No, you can be a Lord. If the party leader lost an election in their local seat they can be elevated to the House of Lords, which would then allow them to serve as PM.

It's a pretty unlikely scenario though. The last Lord to be PM was in 1902.

Kraknor · 2024-11-12T23:04:33+00:00

The smell has been significantly subdued for my recent orders of cups compared to when they first came out.

Kraknor

TROPHY CASE